Harry Potter and the Revolution
by LordAnarchy666
Summary: Sequel to HPatUC. There are many forces at work in the world; the most obvious ones are not always the most dangerous ones. Is there a greater Evil than the Dark Lord at play here? Who are our allies, and who are our enemies? Strong!HP/DG
1. TITLE

DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter was created by JKR, I do not own the rights to any characters, nor do I pretend to.

Warnings: There may be some references to biblical events, various video games, secret enclaves of hidden societies that never existed, and boobs.

Harry Potter and the Revolution. –Sequel to Harry Potter and the Unexpected Changes. I HIGHLY suggest that you read HPUE first, you can find it in my profile. I am not saying that it was any good, but you might be confused at some of the stuff that happens in this sequel.

Rated M for violence, gore, and sexual content. And language. I won't be holding anything back, I want blood, gore, and intestines in my teeth! And who doesn't like smut? Especially when it involves the lovely Miss Daphne?

Summary: There are many forces at work in the world; the most obvious ones are not always the most dangerous ones. Is there a greater Evil than the Dark Lord at play here? Who are our allies, and who are our enemies? Not everything is as it seems as many hidden factions make their move to gain a foothold over the magical world.

Staring: powerful!i-found-obscure-ancient-magic!Harry powerful!I-studied-with-Harry!I-managed-to-not-call-her-"Ice-Queen"!hot!Daphne

Guest appearances from the lovely miss eccentric!-I'm-not-a-seer-(really!)!Luna

And Viktor-i-actually-got-a-decent-part-in-a-fanfiction-Krum

Antagonist!Vicious!Voldemort

DoublePlotArcMysteryVillain!OC

Seconds; senile!dumbledore bashed!ron various!deatheaters dead!umbridge I-wasn't-sorted-into-ravenclaw-for-a-reason!Hermione. Loyal!miniDA

Plot mechanics borrowed from canon: Hallows. Horcruxes get phased out. No prophecy/DOM incident. There is no DA per se, just a continuation of the small group from the first story.

(some) pairings. Main- HP/DG. Minor- HG/VK SB/AS RL/NT (others TBD) I hate writing Malfoy and Ginny, so maybe I'll pair them together and forget about them?

Final Notes: I ramped the rating up to M. Harry and Daphne are now 15, so I feel they are old enough to finally have screen time 'messing around'. Honestly how can anyone write about DG and not have her hot? There are some crude attempts at humor, I leave it up to you to decide if it's worth a few chuckles or a smile.

One of my own personal gripes from my last story (besides my own atrocious grammar and spelling) was the lack of depth. I wish I made the characters deeper, so I will try to do that in this story. And I should remind everyone that this is unbeta'd.


	2. A DAY IN THE LIFE OF SNAPE

DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter was created by JKR, I do not own the rights to any characters, nor do I pretend to.

* * *

Snape was not having a good day.

In fact he couldn't remember the last time he had a good day.

He just had horrible days, and days that were slightly less horrible and therefore bearable.

Potions are his passion, his livelihood. Or part of it. He loved Potions, but he loathed teaching it. Out of the few hundred witches and wizards attending Hogwarts, maybe a half dozen shared the same appreciation of Potions that he did. It never occurred to him that he was the reason that the kids hated potions, but he couldn't care less. He just assumed that they all hated the class because they all suck at it. Again he didn't realize it was due to his abysmal teaching skills.

The other part of his livelihood was caught up between Albus Dumbledore and the Dark Lord Voldemort.

He once thought he was finally free of the menace of trying to toe the line of double spy for both parties, as he banked one of them dying. One of them did die about 14 years ago, but apparently not for good. So now he was faced with having to play that blasted double spy role again. He didn't even know who side he was truly on, just that whichever side would save his ass in the long term.

He was attending the third event of the Tri-Wizard tournament when he saw 'That Arrogant Potter Brat' and the Diggory boy get portkeyed away. His day was about to become a very good day if the Potter boy was killed. Sadly it wasn't so.

'Sure, the Potter brat isn't as annoying as he was the first three years, and he wasn't a complete failure at potions anymore. I can ignore the fact that he looks like his dad, but I will never forget.' He thought to himself with a mental sneer.

In fact his world went straight to the shitter minutes after that. His Dark mark that lay dormant for years was starting to burn. Sure, everyone noticed that their marks were getting darker and were preparing for the inevitable. But the fact remains that it sucked. If it weren't for the fact that removing your arm wouldn't break the master-servant bond of the dark mark, he would have chopped his arm off years ago- potions be damned.

Naturally he told Albus that the mark was burning, but he was told to ignore his master's call for now. They both noticed Karkaroff flee the scene clutching his arm, and a few others leave in the same fashion.

It was only after both the champions arrived and Potter announcing the Dark Lord's return that the truth hit home. He whimpered to himself. No one enjoyed being in the Dark Lord's service after the first week after all. No one ever told him the fine details. None of them thought the Dark Lord would lose either.

Albus immedietly summoned forth 'the old crowd' of the Order of The Phoenix. Snape only stayed for a scant few minutes before he had to meet the Dark Lords summons. The Mark was pulsing for the 7th time, and the pain was far too much. He would have blacked out with severe nerve damage if he didn't answer the call, so Albus reluctantly let him go before they could go over any quick plans. Snape would have to wing it.

* * *

He arrived in a disheveled mess inside an unknown manor. There were about 20 people attending that he could count, but probably more. He hastily straightened out his worn Death Eater robes and Silver Mask of the Inner Circle.

He noticed that there was a large cauldron set up and a toady lady going through the end of a ritual he didn't recognize. He wasn't sure what was going on so he stood motionless and tried to blend in with everyone as if he was there the whole time.

He was confused when he saw the Dark Lord emerge from the cauldron. 'I thought Potter said he was reborn during the task… What is going on… -" He was interrupted out of his thoughts.

"Ah, Severus. So you did decide to join us? Tell me why I shouldn't kill you where you stand." The Dark Lord spit venomously.

"Please my Lord. I only serve you. I have information!" Snape groveled, preparing for the eventual torture. He wasn't disappointed.

"Crucio!" Voldemort hissed.

Snape collapsed in a ball of pain. It wasn't as powerful as he remembered it to be, but it was enough to still hurt like a bitch. Probably had something to do with the fact that his Lord was still unused to his new body.

"Explain or you die."

"I have information on Dumbledore, I've been working at Hogwarts for over a decade now, he uses me as a confidant. I have insight into possible plans. I left directly from the Order of the Phoenix meeting to come here. I have names of some of the followers, mostly the same as the first war."

"First war? That would mean you think there's going to be a Second war. No, I will take over this country without ever getting to the warfare. Britain will crumble from the inside out! "

"I understand my Lord." Snape replied without missing a beat.

"I have a mission for you, to prove your loyalty and get back into my good graces."

"Anything my lord."

"Collect all the information you can on Harry Potter. His schedule, what he eats, when he sleeps, when he shits, his friends, his enemies, what he is learning, what he does in between classes. Everything. I want you to know more about Harry Potter then he knows about himself. Don't be obvious about it though, use all that cunning you possess. Know that I am only keeping you around simply because you have the unique possession of having access to both Dumbledore and Potter."

"It shall be done. I think maybe a private tutoring lesson of some kind will allow me to get the needed information."

"You are a master legillimens, see that it is done. Oh, and so you don't forget that I don't forgive so easily. Crucio! Crucio! Crucio! I expect the complete report done by the winter solstice, which gives you the whole semester. If you don't succeed, your life is forfeit. That is if you still have it by then. Crucio! Crucio!"

Snape was unconscious by the time the last torture curse hit him. This was most pain he has ever been in, bar none. He knew he was on the path of the Longbottoms if his Lord didn't stop soon.

"Crabbe, Goyle. Drag him out back. De-clothe him and cover him in lettuce, and then dump flobberworms all over him. Nott, you will go into the town and find a male muggle. You will imperious him and make him have his way with our dear potion master over there. This will not be a lesson he will forget. And all of you better not forget it either. I am a very unforgiving man, so it would be healthy for all of you to not fail at your assigned tasks."

Snape woke up in a world of shit. When shit couldn't get any worse, it did. He thought the torture was going to be the extent of it. Instead he woke up outside naked in a pile of mud and lettuce. There were flobberworms all around, and bites all over his body.

Including many many bites on his flobberworm.

Including some human shaped bites.

He then noticed the naked, dead, male muggle laying next to him. He then noticed the extreme soreness in his butt.

He whimpered.

He cried.

He then noticed a rash around his crotch in-between the bite marks.

"No!" he pounded the ground.

He hoped there was a cure he could brew for muggle STDs. There wasn't anything he could do about the emotional pain. Except maybe obliviate himself. Yes, that would work. He looked for his wand but couldn't find it.

"You will not fail me Severus. This is the extent of my leniency. I thought about using flesh eating slugs, you should be thanking me for being merciful." The Dark Lord said as he appeared in the door way. "Make yourself decent and get the hell out of my sight. You disgust me!" The Dark Lord tossed the wand onto the tosser lying next to Snape.

The Dark Lord spat onto Snape's face and left. To Snape's dismay his Lord's spit was actually burning him!

He quickly lifted himself off his knees and casted 30 cleaning charms onto himself, and then rushed inside the manor to find a shower. He took an hour long shower, and after releasing out a few flobberworms (amongst others things) from his bowels and finding suitable clothes he apparated to the Hogwarts Gates. He would get some post-cruciatus potion from Pomfrey and probably some healing balm for the bite marks.

After diverting embarrassing questions away from the imposing nurse he limped his way up to the Headmaster's Office.

"Ah, Severus. It is good to see you. After you didn't return last night, I feared the worst. Tell me my dear boy, what happened."

"I need a vow from you Albus. After I am done with the tale, for the love of Merlin please oblivate from me everything that occurred after the meeting."

"Very well, if you insist." Dumbledore replied with eyes twinkling.

"Well, when I arrived it seemed that the Dark Lord was being reborn again. I don't know what to make of it so hopefully you can fill in that part. "

Dumbledore nodded his head and Snape continued.

"Then the Dark Lord noticed me and asked me why he shouldn't kill me on the spot. I told him that I have access to your insight. He told me that I will be dead unless I don't collect adequate information on Potter. He wants to know everything about the brat. Here, I will give you the memory."

Severus took the memory of the nights events out and placed them into Dumbledore's pensieve.

"I see. We will have to play this very carefully like we did in the past. We can feed him the bare minimum of information, some true, others misleading. Tell me, how bad did he punish you to the point where you want your memory erased.?

Snape visibly shivered. "I was put under the Cruciatus at least 5 times before I passed out. Sometime during the night someone removed my clothes and put lettuce and flobberworms on me. I woke up with bite marks all over, and I mean all over. The worst part was that some of the bites were human, and then I noticed the dead man on the ground and that my rectum was sore. I'm almost positive I now have a muggle STD. I even remember waking up during the act briefly and being stunned seconds later." Snape shivered at the memory. "Please Albus, PLEASE!" he yelled reaching up and shaking the old mans collar.

"Very well." Dumbledore replied with a bit of amusement. "Obliviate!"

* * *

Snape was in a coma for 3 weeks after the extreme oblivate. The hard part would be explaining to him when he woke up why he had to be oblivated like that.

"Because you suffered mental trauma so severe that I was afraid that you may take your own life. You requested the obliviation to the point of requiring an oath."

"But why Albus? What could of happened to me that would make ME, a person lacking all emotional depth and morals, need obliviation?"

"Well…I could tell you but then you will probably asked to be obliviated again."

He scoffed at that. "I think I got the balls enough. Try me."

"Don't say I didn't warn you." He pulled out his pensieve and put some memories in.

5 minutes later Snape was in another oblivation induced coma for another 3 weeks.

The 6 weeks that Snape was unconscious proved to be very detrimental to the cause. They didn't have their spy in the Death Eaters' ranks and thus had no idea what they were planning. It was a very long 6 weeks indeed. Snape never did get that STD looked at.

Voldemort was satisfied that he handled the Snape situation adequately. He had no qualms about killing the man, but sadly he was the only person who had access to both his enemies. His other spy in the Order of the Phoenix did not return last night; he assumed Potter recognized him upon his return.

"No matter" he mused to himself. Then there was a quick knock on his door. "Come in."

A toad faced thing walked into the room.

"Ah Delores, good of you to come" he said almost pleasantly. She was the reason for his revival after all.

"I live to serve, my lord!"

"Good, Good" he collected his thoughts for a few seconds. "I want you to start working on the new plan. Start pushing for those Hogwarts reforms to get passed. Something along the lines of 'if the headmaster can't fill a vacancy, then the ministry will provide a suitable candidate.' You of course will be that candidate, I don't care what position you have to fill, but it will most likely be Defense, which would work out the best for us. In fact, I will put the plans in motion to make sure the Aurors all get pulled into active duty. No doubt that nuisance Bones will be using all the aurors to track us down."

"I will see to it that it is done!" she bowed down and left.

"Ah, now that all the pressing matters are taken care of, time to spoil myself with a bit of Ogden's Tristram Special. Oh how I waited 14 long years to savor you…Strong alcohol is exactly what I need after a night like last."

To say Voldemort was extremely disappointed at the day's events would be an understatement. "I shall start work on my own assignment tomorrow, one task that I didn't get to finish last time…"


	3. FOREPLAY LONGTIME

DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter was created by JKR, I do not own the rights to any characters, nor do I pretend to.

* * *

"Ow, that was my nipple!" A young man yelped.

"That's what you get – Hey!" A young woman yelped also.

"Turnabout is fair play." The young man responded with a laugh.

"Yeah, but my nipples are bigger, and therefore will hurt a lot more when pinched." She huffed as she blew a strand of hair out of her face. She couldn't hide her smirk though.

"You're cute when you do that."

"What? When I massage my boob or blow the hair out of my face?" She asked with a devilish glint in her eyes.

"Uh…both?"

"It's your fault, you tweaked my nipple"

"Oh yeah? Maybe I should inspect them for damage?" The young man slowly started to kiss the young woman.

It was a very passionate kiss, one that had her moaning into his mouth. After a few minutes of tongue play he slowly moved his hands down her back and softly felt the smoothness of her rear.

She shivered with acceptance, and he quickly responded with a squeeze before making his way up under her shirt. Actually it _was_ his jersey, as he was the one who plays for the Gryffindor House team, but she commandeered it many months ago for a night shirt.

She pulled away for a few seconds before she pulled the shirt off over his head, and pushed him back on the bed. She quickly climbed on top of him and started into another fierce kiss.

By this point in time, it was very obvious that the young man was very _excited_ and enjoying himself. Taking his hands out the back of her shirt, he quickly took off the jersey in one fluid motion. She was only in her bra and panties underneath (if you could call them that.)

He stared in awe for a few moments at her breasts hiding behind her skimpy clothing. He gulped audibly at the sight of her overly generous bust.

She gave a knowingly look and arched her back so she rubbed her gloriousness against his chest. After a few more minutes of playful rubbing and kissing, she was sitting on his chest.

She was working on the clasp of her bra while the other looked on with anticipation and trepidation, when the door opened loudly.

They both looked around for anywhere to hide and escape their compromising position, but of course there was none.

Two men were standing in the doorway.

One had his hair cropped short, and had a goatee. His hair was graying at the temples and he had some graying in his beard. He looked exhausted, but he also seemed resigned and used to it at the same time.

The other was a jovial looking man. He had his hair back in a ponytail, and he was clean shaven. He was also clearly wearing expensive looking silk clothes. He had a natural smile on his face until he caught his godson's venomous glare.

"Hey Harry…. Daph…ne. I- uh-… Your parents are here um, in the main, er… hall. You should go talk to them." Sirius finished lamely. Normally he would be poking fun at catching Harry in a compromising position with his girlfriend Daphne, and be extremely proud at the same time. However it looked like Harry was trying to set him on fire with his eyes alone, and knowing him, he might just succeed.

"What the fuck, ever hear of knocking? I know for a fact that I had two silencing spells and three different locking charms on the door." Harry responded with a bit of anger.

"Sorry pup, but ,uh, as the castle is keyed to me primarily, I can override most of the magic in this place." Sirius was scratching the back of his head embarrassed, and that was saying something. "Hey Moony if you can take Daphne down to her parents and explain the situation, I want to talk to Harry in private for a moment.

When Remus Lupin walked into the room, he was shocked to say the least. He wasn't expecting a scantily clad teenager to be groping his adopted nephew. He would say he was jealous in fact, as she was no doubt very attractive and very well endowed. He pushed those thought to the back of his mind, behind the similar thought about Auror Tonks. He didn't fail to notice the glistening of Daphne's arousal on Harry's chest, nor the smell of unfinished sex. Being a werewolf made his sense's very sensitive and he couldn't help but blush profusely.

Sirius and Remus both turned their backs while Daphne made herself decent and Harry muttered something about taking a cold shower and cursing Sirius and Remus to hell under his breath.

After Remus and Daphne left, Sirius had a few minutes to relax and compose himself while Harry took his shower.

"I guess it's too late for an apology?" Sirius offered as Harry strolled back in.

"You're going to be my target practice in training tonight. I can't bloody believe how amazingly lucky you have to be to walk in on us during that exact moment."

"I can't say how sorry I am. Was that…er…"

"That's the first time we've gone that far, and it would have gone farther if we weren't interrupted…" He almost spit venom out with his words. It is not nice to mess with a young hormonal boy's brain like that. "Seeing you embarrassed like that almost seemed worth it. On second thought…not even bloody close." He closed his eyes, imagining the softness of Daphne's breasts on his chest and in his hands, and a smile slowly came back to his face.

"Snap out of it pup. Am I going to have to give you _the_ talk and teach you _the_ charms?" Sirius asked with a smirk.

Harry shrugged noncommittally. "So why are her parents here?"

"They were approached by a Death Eater recruiter, and they decided to seek shelter instead of joining. They couldn't go to Dumbledore, or the Ministry, so they came to us. Or more specifically, you. We will be housing them here, as the wards on this place are extremely good."

Harry groaned. "Great. My girlfriend's parents are going to be staying in my home, and most definitely watching over their daughter like a hawk. I assume Astoria is here too?"

"Yeah. I already reconfigured a guestroom to be adequate for their family. I don't want to be around for the talk where Daphne tries to convince them to let her stay in your room every night."

"Uhg. I imagine we will probably be housing a few other families before this war is over with."

"More than likely, we can send out some preemptive invites to some of your friends before the Death Eater's try anything with them. We do have to have a talk with my cousin also."

"Yeah, that could be a good idea, although I don't know how many would accept. Hermione probably will, and maybe her boyfriend, as he is a high profile target."

"Who is it?"

"Viktor Krum." Harry replied nonchalantly.

"Merlin's Balls?! I might have Viktor bloody Krum staying in my castle?!" Sirius said with glee. It was almost like he didn't have the most famous wizard in Britain as his adopted son.

"I'm glad to see you get worked up so much over someone famous." Harry jeered.

"I'm excited! Amazing seeker, that kid is. You should have a face off match against him, to test your skill."

"Uhg, no thanks."

"Why not?" Sirius asked, disappointed.

"I think I could win, but if I did, how would that affect his career? I'm not looking to play professionally, but if we were to play Quidditch together I wouldn't want to be a seeker against him. I like Quidditch, but not as a competition. I simply enjoy the flying."

They left the conversation off like that and went to go meet the Greengrasses and help them get situated.

They walked into nicely furnished lounging room. The Mr. and Mrs. Greengrass were waiting patiently, while Astoria and Daphne were having a whispered conversation.

"Welcome to the castle Clan Greengrass." Sirius spoke up. "Now that the formalities are out of the way, I understand you had a little death eater problem?"

"Thank you Lord Black –" Mr. Greengrass started.

"Please, just Sirius." He said with a doggish grin.

"Thank you Sirius for allowing the rest of my family to stay here. It seems that my eldest daughter has already been spending most of her time here as she is quite smitten with Harry" he said with a smirk.

Mrs. Greengrass smacked her husband on the arm. "Play nice Ed." She admonished.

"Sorry Morgan." He said with a smirk.

Astoria just rolled her eyes at her parents antics while Daphne and Harry both blushed. Thank Merlin that they don't know about the incident that happened less than an hour ago.

Edmund and Morgan are a rare example of an old traditional pureblood marriage contract. It's a rare example because they actually became deeply in love with each other after they were forced to marry. Most marriage contracts are done as business deals and as a means to ensure that pureblood families live on. Naturally a lot of times young teenage daughters are sold off into the arms of a rich old man, but Morgan was lucky in that case also as Edmund was only a year older. Couples married this way are not required or expected to love each other, just to raise up a suitable heir.

Edmund himself was a somewhat imposing man. He was tall, a few inches over 6 feet. It was easy to see where Daphne got her height from. She didn't get her looks from either parent though; supposedly they are from her great-great-grandmother. That's not to say her parents were ugly.

Edmund definitely wasn't a Goyle or Crabbe, but he wasn't a Malfoy either. He didn't pretend to be though. Morgan was quite pretty in her own right. She could make heads turn twice, but she was no Veela or Black.

Astoria, on the other hand, was a miniature version of her mother. From the blond hair down to the petite frame and freckles across her face. Daphne was silently thankful that her sister wouldn't have to put up with the same stuff she did from maturing early.

"Anyways." Ed continued. "Anyways a man apparated onto our property wearing a white mask. Naturally, living through the Dark Lord's reign of terror, we knew what this man was. It is not the first time we have been visited by a recruiter, but it is the first time since His return. We have no interest in subverting the muggles as a large portion of our income comes through muggle business. We can't go to Dumbledore because he just doesn't like us as he thinks we are a dark family. The ministry is in an eternal struggle and can't help us the way we need. That leaves asking Harry Potter for help, or leaving the country. Harry defeated the Dark Lord once and he shall do it again."

"Fair enough." Sirius replied. "It is fair obvious that the Dark Lord hates Harry, and will keep coming after him. Naturally, Harry is going to fight back."

"I don't really have a choice, but I am willing to fight. I've been training since last summer and I will continue to do so. We have more than enough room in the castle for a few families. If we can't help out our friends, than who can we help?" Harry responded.

"Exactly pup. The wards on this place are extensive. From detection wards, to being unplottable, and everything short of the Fidelus pretty much. The magic in the castle is still new so it would be easy to reconfigure a guest quarters into whatever you want."

"This is most appreciated. You have our thanks."

"I will show you the way myself." Sirius responded.

After Sirius showed them to the rooms Astoria and Daphne decided to have a little talk, while their parents talked with the elves about how they wanted the room reconfigured.

"So how serious are you with Harry?" Astoria asked curiously.

"I love him. He loves me. He is brave, kind, and a good listener. He values my opinion. He's patient with me and doesn't rush the relationship."

"And what do the other Slytherins think?"

"Mixed bag really. The purists can be a very vicious lot. Not every girl comes out of that house untouched if you know what I mean." At Astoria's nod she continued.

"And since I developed, well you know, earlier than most, I had a lot of unwelcomed attraction, but not many friends. I was afraid that something could have happened last year to that regards, but nothing did. Being Harry's Girlfriend would either deter them all, or make them more determined. Harry is very powerful, and the whole school knows it now. If anyone messes with me, Harry would probably take their life."

"Knight in shining armor" Astoria sighed wistfully.

"Yeah. Even Malfoy has cooled off towards Harry nowadays. It seems that once Harry ditched Weasley that most of the hatred followed Weasley and not Harry. It seems that since Harry got 'The perfect pureblood princess' and started acted more 'proper' that the Slytherins stopped most of their antics. I was really afraid that someone might try to hurt Harry by hurting me. If it wasn't for me training with Harry it might of happened. Harry doesn't know it but I was nearly assaulted twice in the first two months. They weren't excepting me to be able fight back and I subdued them in seconds. You always have to watch your back, and maybe get some armor for it too."

Astoria looked distraught at the mention of possible rape, but she was glad that her sister's virginity and dignity were still intact.

Daphne noticed the slight shift in her sister's demeanor. "Cheer up Astoria. Maybe we can get Harry to teach you a few spells to defend yourself with." Daphne soothed.

"Really?"

"Yeah. He's a really nice guy once you looked past his fame." Astoria perked up at thought of lessons with the boy-who-lived.

"Just act normal around him and you will be fine. He hates his fame. His parents died for him, remember that." Astoria nodded her head.

Meanwhile, back in Sirius' private study, Moony, Padfoot, and Harry were going over plans.

"First things first. I need my own wards on my room. I have no desire to be caught like that again."

"Fine,fine." The 'adults' both snickered.

"Hey! You wouldn't want me to catch you and Sinistra in a compromising position would you? Or you and Tonks, Moony?"

"Hey there is nothing going on between us." Sirius and Lupin both said at the same time.

"Sure. Just get me the damn wards."

"Ok, next order of business is about my cousin."

"Which?"

"Narcissa"

"Oh THAT one." Harry responded.

"With her husband dead, she wants protection from the head of our family, which is me. She fears that with her husband dead the death eaters will come after her and her son in payment, and then the rest of the Malfoy wealth including the Manor. She wants to abandon the Manor and go into hiding and wait out the war. "

"Hmmm. As long as they take some oaths to insure against betrayal and such and no fighting inside the castle."

"Naturally. I'm going to put some extremely death eater prejudiced wards too."

"Like anyone with a dark magic protean charm gets stunned, disarmed, and thrown into our dungeon?"

"Or outright killed."

"That works too."

"I guess I'll go floo her." Moony stated.

"Just make sure they get a room that is the farthest away from mine as possible."

"Sure thing. Oh and one last thing. I have a pretty tight schedule at work this week, and the full moon is two days away. It's not really my place to ask, but would you keep Moony company?"

Harry thought about it for a few seconds. His animagus form should keep the werewolf in check quite easily, especially under wolfsbane potion. "Sure, I'll do it."

"Thanks, he will appreciate it a lot."

The former Mrs. Malfoy (now Black) and former Malfoy heir (now head) arrived with little fanfare. They ignore pretty much everyone and kept to themselves. They even managed to not get into a fight with the Greengrasses, who they considered below them in the hierarchy. Narcissa spent most of the day lamenting her life with Sirius, while Draco took to the Quidditch pitch by himself and shot against the hoops all day.

Harry sent his owl off to a bunch of his friends asking if they wanted shelter at the castle. It would take a few days to get any responses back.


	4. BARK AT THE MOON

DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter was created by JKR, I do not own the rights to any characters, nor do I pretend to.

* * *

Harry received some responses back from his close friends after a few days wait.

Neville and his grandmother graciously accepted the invitation. His grandmother was a very prominent member of society, and a potential target. She was stubborn but Neville insisted that he didn't want to lose his only family.

The Weasley Twins graciously declined. Harry knew they would, as he donated his Tri-Wizard winnings to their business, and they were looking for premises for a shop. They apparently already succeeded and had a building in Diagon Alley. It would take some time before they were ready to open, but they did have a flat above the storefront where they would stay. Apparently the Weasley's were not too happy, but since when were they ever happy with the twin's chosen life? They had a floo connection there so they would still be able to visit.

Hermione had a slightly more complicated story.

She somehow convinced her parents to move to Australia to wait out the war. Of course there was much more to the story than that and Harry had a feeling that a little magic was involved, but it wasn't his place to ask. She decided she would accept Viktor's offer to stay with him and his parents in Bulgaria.

Of course there was a twist. She thought they would be safe in Bulgaria. Of course she forgot that Durmstrang is considered a training ground for dark wizards, and consequently, potential followers of Voldemort. The Krums, naturally, were targeted for recruitment, as were a lot of others in their country. So Harry sent them an invitation too, and they accepted. So it turned out Hermione would end up staying in the castle along with the Krums anyways.

They luckily had easy access to international portkeys, due to Viktor's career, so they were able to escape relatively quickly. The rest were able to just floo in after they had all their possessions packed.

Of course he wasn't completely selfish and hogging all the guest rooms to himself. Sirius invited the other half of the Black family; the Tonks. He also probably asked Professor Sinistra, but Harry didn't get a response when he asked about her.

Harry also asked if Daphne wanted her friend Tracey's family to be brought in; after he was assured her parents weren't sympathizers. Of course Daphne had to remind him that Tracey was a half blood, and that her parents were more likely to be killed than asked to join. Tracey's family graciously accepted.

* * *

Harry held off for a day to let all the families get situated before he held a war council among his friends. The group was consisted of Viktor, Hermione, the Weasley Twins, Neville, Tracey, and of course Daphne.

"I got a few status reports and plans here." Harry started. "Death Eaters are on the move recruiting, obviously, both here in Britain and elsewhere. The only attacks so far have been against people who refused to join. There haven't been any killing sprees or open hunting like the first war. They are trying to lay low. Even though the Ministry isn't acknowledging His return, Sirius tells me the Aurors are going around warning families and handing out instructional pamphlets."

"On another note about half the castles' guest rooms are in use so we still have room for some more families. We could add more rooms, but the magic to do soy may tax our wards too much. We want the wards as strong as possible. As they are right now, nothing will be able to get in that we don't want in. I should point out that Draco and Narcissa Malfoy are currently here under the protection of Sirius, so don't panic if you see them. They have taken oaths to ensure their loyalty."

"Next order of business. I was thinking of asking Remus to starts a twice weekly defense seminar for the people staying here. It never hurts to prepared, and every little bit of training helps. It's mostly for the adults but any of your brothers and sisters can join if they want."

Fred had something to say. "We were thinking about starting something similar with the other shopkeepers in Diagon Alley. Start some sort of Weekly defense program so we aren't completely hopeless if the Death Eaters come to call."

"It's a good idea. Of course Daphne and I are going to be continuing our training and everyone here is welcome to join us. In fact, Viktor, you learn different magics than us at Durmstrang, maybe you could show us a few tricks?"

Viktor looked started for a bit then answered. "I vill hold no promises but I vill try."

"That's all that I ask, thanks."

Viktor gave him a nod.

"Ok one last note. Voldemort has been keeping himself alive with soul capsules called Horcruxes. They need to be destroyed in order to kill him. However, the threat within the government has to be waylaid first. Even if He were to die tomorrow, he has too many followers that would continue his work. We have to deal with his support base one way or another. If there are no questions, then let's go eat."

The next night was the full moon, so Harry decided to fill the promise he made to Sirius.

He made his way tentatively to a room in the lower reaches of the castle nicknamed 'The Wolf Room' Harry entered and saw Remus leaning over a desk, facing away from him. There was a goblet in front of him.

"Oh hi Sirius, I didn't think you could come tonight." Remus asked without turning around

"He can't but I can." Harry responded.

Remus turned around real quick with wand out. "Oh Harry! Sorry…"

"Good reflexes."

"You shouldn't do this, it's dangerous."

"I will do this. You don't deserve this and I will do anything to make it more bearable. Besides, unlike a dog, werewolves are under me in the food chain."

"True" He said with a feeble laugh. "Lock the door if you plan on staying, I feel it coming."

As Harry secured the large padded room, Remus drank from the goblet that was on the desk. "One would think I would get used to the taste… urg."

Remus' hair was growing right before Harry's eyes and he took it as the cue to transform. He slowly focused on only himself and ignored the groans of pain coming from the room. He focused solely on wanting to be a large cat. He focused on all the anger he had towards Voldemort. He focused all his love on Daphne. He felt his human form slowly mold itself into a nundu.

In front of him Remus was still in the process of transforming. There was no glowing light to signal an animagus change, just that man's body rippling and distorting and tearing the clothes off himself. The cries he was making was not out of viciousness, but out of pain, as he felt all his bones lengthen and muscle shift.

As Remus' started to finish, the cries of pain turned into cries of rage, at his life being so unfair and uncontrollable. The werewolf yelped and began to run around the room and smashing the little amount of cheap furniture that was already in the room. He scratched at the walls but even with the wolf's immense strength the magically reinforced walls didn't even notice.

Harry's role was to subdue the anger out of Remus so he didn't hurt himself in his blind rage. Harry started prowling around and swatting at Moony's tail to get him to notice. It wasn't working so he swatted at the werewolves back, and that got him to turn around very fast. Harry was a lot faster though, as he was the predator king.

The werewolves eyes were still blazing with unbridled anger as he charged at Harry. The wolf started swiping, and Harry started dodging. Using his super quick reflexes he pounced on the wolf in between swings. He pinned the wolf's two strong arms to the ground. The wolf howled in a way that didn't translate to defeat, but to being pissed off.

In response Harry gave a mighty roar that silenced the wolf and actually penetrated the unbridled rage. The wolf began to whimper and Harry noticed the red tinged disappearing from Remus's eyes just to be left with the unnatural yellow. Harry took this as his signal that Remus was now winning the internal battle with the wolf and should be mostly himself for the rest of the night. Harry slowly got off Remus.

Remus gave a whimper in response and curled up into a ball. Harry stretched out and curled up into a ball not too far away and kept him company that way the rest of the night.

Meanwhile, at Voldemort's base of operations.

"Avery. Your mission tonight is very simple, if you fail, do not bother returning. The wards on the house are substandard and should not pose any threat. Do not destroy too much, but you can kill the girl. The Father. Must. Be. Brought. In. Alive. I expect him to be in the dungeon, untortured and alive when I get back from Germany. I have to have a chat with a wandmaker there."

"Yes my lord. I will not fail you."

"No you will not, need I remind you what happened to Snape?"

Avery seemed repulsed at that memory. "Of course not! I will be successful."

An hour later, at a tower-like house outside Ottery St. Catchpole.

"Bole, go through the back, Patterson you're with me." The death eater in the silver mask ordered to his two underlings.

A minute later the sound of broken glass was heard.

"Run Sweetums! The Death Eaters are here!" a man yelled. It was probably the most sane thing the man has ever said in his life.

This was followed by a few shouts of incantations and sounds of breaking furniture.

"No Daddy!" a girls voice was heard.

More explosions and screams.

"DADDY! NO!" was heard after a particularly bright flash of light.

More frantic crashing sounds were heard inside the house.

Then silence for a few seconds.

"HUMNAM SOLIO ORBIS TRABAS NEMUS CROCUS!" an ethereal voice incanted.

The whole ground shook and rattled for a minute, the heavens poured rain down from the sky, and flowers blossomed before your eyes. Then all was silent once again.

Humnan solio orbis trabas nemus crocus – bunny cap circle table tree yellow


	5. VIKTOR AND THE MOONCHILD

DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter was created by JKR, I do not own the rights to any characters, nor do I pretend to.

* * *

Harry and Daphne were walking down towards breakfast when they saw a strange girl sitting at the table.

"That's Looney Luna Lovegood." Said Hermione coming up from behind him. Viktor and his parents were following closely behind. "She's, er, different."

Harry raised an eyebrow at this and took a seat across from the strange girl. She was eating pancakes with strawberries and chocolate ice cream and drinking iced orange juice with an umbrella and lemon.

"Luna is it?" Harry asked.

"Yes, Harry Potter?" she asked dreamily.

"Uh…" Those large silvery eyes were disconcerting.

"I brought her here late last night." Sirius replied, walking in at the exact right moment. Sinistra was with him.

"Oh hello Sirius Black and Professor Aurora Sinistra. You know you have nargles on your face?" She said while looking in Sinistra's direction.

Sinistra's face blushed bright crimson in response and she immedietly left. Harry raised a questioning eyebrow at Sirius.

"Oh, uh, yeah. The department detected a large bout of magic at her house last night so we were dispatched there. By the time we arrived the house was in ruins and Luna was the only survivor. Her father and three death eaters were killed. As Luna doesn't have any family left, I offered to take her in. Her mother was once friends with Lily, but…" The unfinished sentence was that he was imprisoned and Lily and James were killed.

"I am very sad. " She said, large tears welling up in her eyes. "I don't know why they attacked, but they wanted my dad alive. He put up a good fight but he was out numbered. I ended up using the same experimental spell my mom used when she died. I suppose I should be grateful that I lived, but I don't have anyone else left."

"Don't worry Luna, you can be our friend." 'right guys?' He said with a look. Everyone else nodded their heads.

"Oh thank you Harry Potter! I've never had a friend before, well not ever since my mother died when I was 9. People say I am strange…"

Harry didn't know what to say to that so he looked at the necklaces she was wearing. One was made of butterbeer caps, the other was a gold triangle with an engraved circle and vertical line. "What do your necklaces represent?"

"Oh, just my mother's butterbeer cap necklace and my father's-" she was interrupted.

"Zat is ze mark ov Grindlewald zat is. I recognize it from Durmstrang. It iz all over ze walls." Viktor pointed at the triangle.

"No silly." She admonished. "It is the Symbol of the Seeker. My daddy wore it around all the time. It identifies him as one of the-" she was interrupted again.

"Grindlewald, as in Gellert Grindlewald the infamous Dark Lord?" Hermione piped up. "How… odd."

Harry's ears perked up at the name Gellert. It rang a bell but he was having a hard time placing the name. He was fingering his wand under the table while he zoned out the heating bickering going on around him, and then his head snapped up in recognition. No one noticed so he gave Daphne a discrete signal that indicated that they needed to talk.

After they ate Harry and Daphne made their way up to Harry's room.

"What is it Harry? What's wrong?"

"When they were talking about Grindlewald. I met a man named Gellert once. It seemed odd at the time, but now it feel like it is important somehow. The man who made mine and Sirius's wand was named Gellert."

"You think that man is the former Dark Lord? I thought Dumbledore defeated him?" Daphne asked.

"Defeat doesn't necessarily mean kill. I don't think Dumbledore has ever killed a man; he makes everyone else do it for him.

"So you want to go pay this man a visit?"

"Yeah. You can come with me and get a new wand while I talk to him. It never hurts to have two wands. Hopefully if it is the former dark lord, he won't kill us for finding out his secret. I can't imagine that he would want his real identity spread around."

"You really think this important and not just that crazy girl being, well, crazy?"

"Call it one of those gut instincts."

"Ok. We'll go tomorrow. You were planning on having that little training session today where Viktor teaches us a few things right?"

"We might as well invite Luna to the meeting. I don't think it would be wise to underestimate her. She did fend off those death eaters last night with a crazy spell."

"True."

Despite Viktor's protest, he did agree to share some of his advanced learnings. He did graduate from Durmstrang after all. Despite his Quidditch fame he was a powerful and skilled wizard. You simply can't make it through his school without being so.

Viktor looked disconcerted even just standing amidst the small crowd of his friends. "Vell I am not good ov a teacher. My mutter however is teacher at Venezia Academy ov Mages. One ov first lesson she teach me is human nature ov magic. Here in Britain you have problems wiv Dark Lords. In Italy zey have opposite."

"Light Lords?" Hermione asked incredulously.

"No. Light magic is not oppozite ov dark magic. Zere is magic maybe even more obscure and as dangerous as dark magic. " Viktor replied. For the first time Hermione was at a loss of words.

"It known as Holy Magic to some people. The practitioner of such magic can be just as fanatic as user ov dark magic. There is saying 'Fanaticism and Madness are zame thing'. Ze followers of the Holy One are just as prejudice as followers of the Dark One. Just as extreme. Just as crazy. The do anything for what they believe in and they do anything to justify it."

"Why haven't I heard of such a thing? In all the books I've read, not a single mention of this." Hermione said. She was almost visibly upset that her boyfriend knew more about this than she did.

"Zere are stories in Muggle books. Ze Bible. Ze Qur'an. Ze last major conflict with ze Holy magic vas Crusades, hundreds ov years ago. Most ov ze users are located in ze Holy Zee ov Roma. As are their secrets and knowledge. Zere are many more Dark users than Holy, as books on Dark magic are much more common."

"So the Pope is the leader of the Holy magic users?" Hermione asked.

"I would guess that the Pope is just a figurehead. I imagine the leader is probably a Templar Knight?" Harry said. Harry was vaguely familiar with the term Templar. Back when he was at privet drive he would sneak downstairs to watch the TV at night and often times the only thing on was the history channel and documentaries on Templar or WW2.

"Zat is most people's guess as well. Zey are so secretive no one knows for sure." Viktor replied.

"The Templar were a secret society. There are a few others out there as well, the Free Masons, Illuminati, even the Order of the Phoenix could be considered a secret society, although nowhere near as complex as the others are supposedly." Hermione chipped in with. She blushed at the other's looks. "Sorry."

"And zat is what makes them like ze Death Eaters. A Templar could be anyone, you neighbor, the bar maid, even ze minister. You don't know who is Death Eater either until you see Dark Mark. Templar have mark too, although I don't know what it is." Viktor continued. "Zat brings me to original point ov lesson. Light magic is ze middle magic. It is neither dark nor holy, although it has a little ov each. However as it is neither, it is weaker compared to those. Zat is why it is ze most commonly used."

"Why is Light magic the weakest?"

"Ze other magic has more potential. Zere is a reason that using Dark magic can corrupt. It gives you a feeling ov euphoria, a false sense ov super-or-ity. Zere are some magics that will make you feel like a God. Though I zpose vith Dark magic it make you feel like ze Diablo. Holy magic make you feel like ze God. Holy magic can corrupt you just as easily. Ze power is hard to resist. Ze spells are a lot more powerful."

"I think I understand. Do they teach any Holy magic at Durmstrang?"

"Ze do not. Zere is possibility that some spells ve use vere once considered a Holy spell, but have been popularized to ze point ov being normal. Ve have a course on Dark Arts, where we mostly learn about spells that vould be considered restricted by ze British. Ve have course on ze Blood Magic, and also on rituals. Vere are also Defense class, similar to vat Hogvarts has."

"So will you help us?"

"I vill try. Vor Hermyknee I do anything." Hermione blushed at Viktor's words.

"How does your mother know all this?" Hermione asked. "You said she taught you this."

"Isn't it obvious?" He said mysteriously. "She is Valkyrie Templar. I am trusting you all with zis secret, it is worth more than my life but I give it anyways."

Hermione's brow just furled even more. "I thank you for your trust, but we obviously all got more questions." Harry and Daphne were both shaking their heads 'no', until she looked at them and then they started shaking their heads 'yes'.

"I got two big ones actually. Valkyrie are supposedly the pure female angel warriors of god. Pure meaning virgin… how are you here then if I may ask…? And secondly, how does a witch believe in something like God, the entity which the Templar believe in? Magic and religion don't really mix…"

"Vell those are easy questions. What can God do that magic can't? Ze answer is nothing. Zat means that Magic and ze God are one and ze same. All those muggles worshipping God are actually worshiping magic. And my mutter is still virgin, although it is embarrassing to talk about. Ze answer again is magic. Use your imagination. Ze muggles can do it, so can we."

"So your mother is a member of a secret branch of a secret society that is spread out through the whole world, and no one knows about it?" Harry summed up.

"Yes."

"And I have a feeling this is important. Why did you tell us?"

"Because ze Templar are mobilizing. Not against Dark Lord, but another. I do not know who, so I cannot say. I just hope zat this other is not as dangerous as ze Dark Lord. I bet he is looking to capitalize on Britain's instability"

"Lovely. As if Voldemort wasn't enough, there's another madman out there secretly building forces while an equally crazy group of Holy Templar try to counter their activities. Uhg, this is giving me a headache. I need some fresh air."

"Templar do not simply fight dark wizards. I do not know ze English to describe. Yes, letz get some air. Toss quaffle?"

"Sure."

They all left, except Luna. She was staring at the ceiling deep in thought when a woman emerged from the shadows.

"Hello Luna."

She looked at the new face with fearful wide eyes. "Hello …?"

"I have an offer for you. Your… unique perspective… on the world would be valuable to our cause."

Luna frowned for a moment before giving a small nod.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a small town in Germany.

"Tell me old man, where is it!?" Voldemort yelled. "Crucio!"

"I told you, I haven't seen it in over 70 years! It was stolen!" the old man screamed back in pain.

"What a load of horse shit. You will-" Voldemort was cutoff from his rant by the sound of tapping on the window.

Voldemort went over to the window and let the owl in. It was holding a copy of the Quibbler. "Oooh, a new animal crossword. What's this! Xenophilius Lovegood, Senior Publisher of the Quibbler found dead! AHHHH"

Voldemort looked around for something to relieve his anger on when he saw the man still cowering on the floor. "Crucio!"

"Stop, please! I don't have the information you need!"

"Then you are worthless to me! Avada Kedavra!" He roared and the man on the ground stopped moving. "Avery better be dead, or otherwise I will kill him for failing me. How did he fail against a crazy man and a crazy girl? Stunning spell and go, how hard could it be? At least I did get some useful information from my legillimancy, so all is not lost."

Voldemort snarled once more before grabbing wands of the shelves by the armful and packing them into a bag.

"Look at me, I'm reduced to a common thief! Bombarda!" he snapped.

After he blew up a wall, he left the building through it and took one look around. "Incendio! MORDESMORDE!"

The Dark Mark was visible for all to see.

A/N any references to religions and whatnot is completely made up by me, and I don't base any of it on historical fact. If any of it happens to be true, then it is just coincidence.

I don't know what the equivalent of the History Channel is in Britain, but I assume it's not too different than it is here in the US. The only British channel I know is BBC and that is because Top Gear is on it.


	6. ET TU, DARK LORD?

DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter was created by JKR, I do not own the rights to any characters, nor do I pretend to.

* * *

"Ah, Mr. Potter, I was wondering when you would come visit me again. Oh and you brought a friend?"

"This is Daphne Greengrass. She wants a wand. In the mean time I figured we could have a talk… Lord Grindlewald." Harry smiled.

"I wondered when you would figure it out." The man sneered. "I haven't been called Lord in 50 years. I no longer parade myself around as a dark lord. What do you want to talk to me about? I don't follow the wizard known as Voldemort, nor will I ever carry his mark."

"What can you tell me about this? A friend of mine called it 'Grindlewald's Mark', and another 'The Mark of the Seeker'" Harry pulled out a copy of the gold necklace of Luna's father.

"Ah yes. That is not my mark. I am just the most recent user of it. Mark of the Seeker is closer to the truth."

"Seeker of what?" Harry asked.

"The Deathly Hallows of course." Grindlewald replied.

"I've never heard of them."

"Few have. Even fewer believe that they are real. The story is popularized in children's tale called 'The Tale of Three Brothers. I obviously don't keep a copy of the book around here, so you will have to read it yourself. Now listen closely, for many people have killed for the information I am about to share with you. There are three extremely powerful magical items out there, supposedly created by Death itself. A wand, a cloak, and a stone. The stone is called the Resurrection stone, and is one of the only items in the world that allows you to communicate with the dead. The cloak is called The Cloak of Invisibility, and it is said that it will even hide you from death itself. The most recognized one is the wand. It goes by many names, and is the only item to be seen more than once throughout history. It is known as the Deathstick, the Wand of Destiny, or the Elder Wand."

Daphne had a look of recognition on her face. "Binn's has mentioned those wands. There is no proof that they are nothing but a wand that was used by a powerful wizard."

"There is one thing that makes the already powerful Deathstick more powerful than the others. It is unbeatable. You cannot lose a magical fight while you wield it. The only way to gain control of it is by defeating you opponent."

"Sir, with all due respect, that sounds unbelievable." Harry said.

"You think so now kid. But the proof is standing right before you. I owned the Deathstick. I stole it off Gregorovich many moons ago. He himself never used it, he only tried to replicate it and bolster his own fame. Why do you think I wanted to conquer the world? A wand of such power makes you do crazy things."

"But Dumbledore defeated you, so that means he has the wand?" Daphne started to put the pieces together. "How did he beat an unbeatable wand?"

"The world thinks he defeated me, but he defines the term 'defeated' loosely. He thinks he can gain the power of the Elder Wand by simply disarming a person. Sure, it could work, but there are stronger magics of bonding out there."

"Like soul magic?" Harry asked.

"No silly boy. Soul magic is an extremely narrow subject with no more than a dozen spells. "

"Blood magic?" Daphne offered.

"Smart girl. Indeed. It was bound with my blood, as many have done before me. It cannot be forcefully taken from me without killing me. After Dumbledore supposedly defeated me, he locked me up in my own prison and took the wand for himself. Naturally, since it was my prison that I built, I knew how to escape. He still thinks I'm there, the old fool…we were once friends…but that's a story for another time. Have you ever seen the wand he uses Harry?"

"Yeah. It is pure white and it's very intricate and delicate looking."

"That's the one. It's a duplicate. You see, the elder wand by itself is nothing but a powerful combination of Elder wood and Thestral hair. I've actually got a dozen of such wands on the wall over there. Be a good boy and go fetch the box and I will show you. The fact that the magic of the Deathstick is much more powerful than the magic of a normal elder wand lends credence to the fact that it was created by Death."

"I don't understand. Was Death a person? And why do you have so many copies?" Daphne asked.

"Some things are not meant for us to understand. There are forces at work that reach far beyond our Earth. Death is one of them. If you want to understand, you need the set. As I have never had the set, I cannot answer the question."

Harry went over to a shelf and brought over a box with a dozen identical wands to the one Dumbledore was using.

"Take one out girl. You will find that they are very powerful, even if they only have one core. Still, better concentrate on your magic to find the best fit. And as to why I have so many? For the same reason that Gregorovich once owned the wand. I was trying to duplicate them. The true death stick is unique. I have been unable to replicate it and am left with normal, but powerful, duplicates." Grindlewald said.

Daphne did as she was told. She closed her eyes and hovered her hand above the wands. She picked the one in the very middle.

Grindlewald got a very feral grin when she picked up the wand. "Hmmm, best be sure and go through the motions. Girl, listen closely. I'm going to say a phrase, and after that you are going to follow with 'I, Daphne Greengrass, do claim this wand with my blood, for I am the Master of Death'."

Both teens looked slightly confused but Daphne shook her head in agreement.

"I Gellert Grindlewald, relinquish my hold on this wand. My blood on this wand, return to me! So mote it be."

"I Daphne Greengrass, do claim this wand with my blood, for I am the Master of Death. So mote it be"

A mist of fine red dust floated up from the wand and dissipated into the air. A fine red mist then floated from Daphne's hand and into the wood.

Harry spoke up. "Does that- Is that-"

"Yes boy. Your girlfriend picked out the real Wand of Destiny."

Daphne's face was in the perpetual repetition of looking like a goldfish.

"Wow, sir, I don't know what to say."

"I have no use for an unbeatable wand anymore, just take good care of it."

"So what about the other two artifacts. Did you ever find them?" Daphne finally managed to ask.

"I looked of course. But the wand is the item everybody wants. Everyone like me I suppose. I wanted unstoppable power, like many before me, and many after me. Dumbledore wanted the Resurrection Stone, to see his dead sister one last time. We never found either the cloak or the stone, but I doubt that man has stopped searching, especially since he thinks he has the real wand. It was one of our childhood ambitions to discover the existence of the Hallows."

"I'm still trying to get over the fact that Dumbledore was friends with the second most notorious dark wizard of the century. And why hasn't he noticed his wand is a fake?"

"Simple. He simply believes it is the real thing. He has no basis on which to judge it or compare it against. The copies are extremely powerful wands in their own right, and coupled with the simple power of belief, he can do amazing things. But do not sell your wand short Miss Greengrass. Nothing can beat the Deathstick's power. You can heal the unhealable, break the unbreakable, destroy the indestructible. Don't get me wrong. Voldemort is still a very strong wizard. I don't know how he made himself immortal, be it splitting his soul, a philosopher's stone, or ancient Egyptian rituals, but everyone bows before the Master of Death in the end. Go out and find the rest of the hollows if you wish to have a chance against that monster. And Don't. Tell. Anyone."

Both the teenagers were stunned speechless. Grindlewald spoke up again in a soft voice. "The reasons I gave you the opportunity to take that wand are twofold, Daphne."

"What is that sir?"

"Do you wonder how Dumbledore defeated me? He did not beat me on skill, or raw power. He hit me in my one weakness; love" Grindlewald's face briefly contorted into a look of anger, but it disappeared as quickly as it came. The two teens kept listening to the old wizards monologue very intently. Occasions like this are not bound to happen very often in life.

"He killed my wife while I slept. He said it was revenge for killing his sister. I think he is just afraid to admit that he might be the cause of his sister's death. His sister was caught in an argument between me, him, and his brother, so it could have been any one of us that accidently hit her with the fatal spell." He shook his head as if trying to get rid of the memory.

"It never gets easier- losing a loved one that is. But I bet it hurts him even more, to know that there are people out there who know of all his deep and dirty secrets and the skeletons in his closet. After he killed my wife, he came after me. I will admit I was so distraught that it didn't take much to subdue me at the time, I didn't even have the wand out, so he took the first wand he found which was one of these copies." He said that while motioning to the box of duplicates in front of him.

He took a minute to compose himself. "I give you that wand Daphne, so the same thing will not happen to you. The war is lost if Harry loses you. You are the only person he has ever given his love to freely and openly, I can see it simply in his eyes. You are his anchor. It is very rare for one so young to love so fully, but Harry has known very little love his whole life, and then he meets you, who returns as much love as he gives. He has this love and he does not want to lose."

"Wow…-" She listened with a faint blush as the old man casually described her relationship. It was kind of strange that he knew so much about them, but stranger things have happened.

Harry was listening and he was becoming very embarrassed and self conscious. The old man knew more about his life then would seem normal.

"The second reason is the reason why I didn't give it to Mr. Potter. Surely with that wand he could defeat Him easily. He doesn't need it. Harry's power will surpass everyone's on this planet without that wand some day. Anyone that has lived as long as I have can see that. Anyways, best not keep all our tricks in one bag though, the saying is. Lady Luck and Fate are fickle friends after all. There will be a final confrontation, no doubt about it. You won't need that wand to win; I place my life on it. There is a power in you, boy, that no one can stand up to, not even mythical wands, or immortal dark lords."

"What are you saying, that I can dodge death?" Harry asked incredulously. How could an unbeatable wand not help him? "He's got 50 years of experience on me."

"No boy. I am saying that when the time comes, you won't have to." Grindlewald sagely stated.

"That's some pretty deep stuff." Daphne stated awkwardly.

Grindlewald turned his back, nearly consumed in emotion. Reliving one's past is never easy.

"Sir?" Harry spoke up. "Would you like a chance to fight? To fight against the monstrosity known as Voldemort?"

Grindlewald turned around with a snap. "Why should I fight against him? I do not fear him! I was already conquering the world while he was still in diapers. I know magic that he still does not know, nor will he ever know. I've committed atrocities that would even send a shiver down His spine. Tell me boy, why would a 107 year old dark wizard like me want to fight against another?"

Harry seemed very small at that point in time. It was easy to forget that the man in front of him was once an extremely powerful Dark Lord, and still is. "Redemption."

"Redemption? You sounded like Dumbledore there. You know, Dumbledore and I were once very alike. Like two peas in a pod, the old saying is. He didn't always piss sunshine and rainbows. We both had lofty ambitions for the world, but he chickened out in the end. Now he's just an old senile headmaster while I'm a washed up wand maker. Why would I be interested in redemption? I'm responsible for the deaths of thousands. I won't shirk out of my past."

"To restore honor to the name of Grindlewald. Show Dumbledore that you will still triumph over him in the end. Show Voldemort that he is not all powerful. Show the world that even dark wizards can do good deeds, and turn your actions into the betterment of the world. Use your skills that once brought the world trembling before you against the very wizards who soil what it means to be pureblood. You may be the wizard we need to turn this war in our favor. Voldemort wants to subjugate the entire country for no reason other than because he had a bad childhood. That man is a walking irony of himself. "

"Yes... Yes… I like the sound of that! Too long has Voldemort's minions gone rampant. He has twisted the old pureblood beliefs beyond recognition, and it disgusts even me. If you kill all the muggles, who is there left to rule? No one." He mulled over his thoughts for a minute. "I will join you. I will show the world why I was once the greatest wizard in Europe. I hope the smell of combat doesn't make you sick boy? I will not hold back against my enemies."

"Thank you Sir. We need every single capable witch and wizard on our side, and with you we have gained a powerful ally. Do you need a place to stay? We got room at the castle. Then again you can probably handle any potential assassins. I don't care if you spit out killing curses like a boxer spits out teeth, as long as it is against our enemies."

"No one even knows I'm still alive, not even Dumbledore. I will relocate myself, and I will contact you in a few days time. I will not stoop to Killing curses, I know far more… entertaining… spells."

"Did Dumbledore ever check up on you after he threw you in your own prison?"

"Ha boy. Did he ever check up on you after he threw you with those muggle relatives of yours? There's your answer. Dumbledore is a senile old fool. Strong, yes. But still a fool. And every fool has a weakness, do you know his?"

"Er, his ability to give everyone second chances?" Harry replied hesitantly.

"No boy. His lemon drops. His sweet tooth will be the death of him, so if you ever want him incapacitated, mess with his candy."

"Er, thanks?"

"Sure, now scram. I sure you got other things to do than listen to the ramblings of an old man."

After the kids left he went over to a bookshelf on the wall. He pulled a torch and the wall opened up to reveal a suit of armor.

The armor was pitch black. The armor only reflected the barest amount of light, it was almost like a taint against the sun itself.

He lifted the horned helm off the stand and put it on his head. "I think I can get one more good round out of these old bones. That boy is the future of the world, and I will stand proud next to him and his allies. I will show those terrorists the power of a true pureblood. "

* * *

Daphne and Harry arrived back in the castle.

"That guy is pretty barmy."

"I think it comes with age. Or maybe it is because he was once a friend of Dumbledore's and we all know how barmy he is."

They were traveling up to their rooms when they came across Sirius carrying two large boxes.

"Oh hey, I was just looking for you pup." Sirius said.

"Hey Padfoot. What are in those boxes?" Harry replied.

"Here take this one. They are the ward stones you wanted for the room."

"Why did you get two boxes?"

"Oh, well, uh, the other one is for my room, so er…"

"You don't want me walking in on you and the Professor doing the dirty, like you did on me. Right?"

"You could phrase it like that."

"Right."

"Anyways, some of the ward stones are already configured into power stones, all you need to do is charge them with your wand. The spell stones don't have any runes on them yet so that is all up to you. They are large and pure enough to cover your whole room easily."

They were about to part when Sirius spoke up again. "Oh, and pup, Amelia has a mission suited for your special talents. Here's an envelope with the details. She didn't tell me what it is, other than it's happening in a few days. I would read the message soon and burn it."

"Hmmm.... Interesting. My first mission, hopefully it's not too dangerous."

"Probably not. The Aurors are thinned out a lot, otherwise one of us probably would do. We just don't have the man power."

He opened up the letter and read to himself.

_HP_

_One of my sources tells me there is an information and illegal goods rendezvous scheduled to happen this upcoming Friday at midnight. The location is in an old abandoned warehouse at Kingston upon Hull. My source says it should be easy to find. Recover any valuable information if possible, and then destroy the supplies. Make it look like an accident if possible, muggle style._

_-AB_

He read it a second time, just to make sure he understood it properly. It seemed easy enough; stake out the drop point, collect some information, and burn the evidence. He had five days until Friday, and he had some stuff to take care of in the mean time. He tucked the letter into his pocket and picked up the box. He nodded his thanks to Sirius.

Harry carried the box of crystals up to his room. He opened the box and sorted the crystals. There were four powerstones, and four spellstones, along with one matrix. He was immedietly impressed by Sirius. The combination of stones that he got would provide the most flawless of warding schemes.

He did admit that he was probably overdoing it a bit. He just wanted some privacy wards and detection wards on the room. He really didn't need all the stones, or the size. "Rather have overkill, than not killed enough," a wise man once said.

As it is, a powerstone is like a battery, and is linked to a spellstone, which projects the wards in the area you want covered. The matrix bundles all the wards together and can be used to 'house' all the wards including the runes. This is the most secure way of doing it, in which there is the least amount of possibility of breach. It is also the longest lasting as the wards will take longer to degrade with the separate powerstones. The use of a matrix stone also allows for easier customization and changes or upgrades.

Alternative, one could skip the matrix stone and configure the wards directly to the spellstones. This is a longer process, but a lot cheaper. As each setup is working independently from each other, there is a greater chance of failure.

The most common use is straight up combination wardstones that both power the wards and hold the runes to control them. This is still done with the stones place in 4 corners and have them run in series like the other setups, or a singular wardstone at the center of the project. The last option would have been perfectly adequate for Harry's use, but since when did wizards use common sense? The main problem with using the combined wardstone is that they degrade fast, and as such you can't put as powerful wards on it as one would like, and they require frequent recharging or even replacement.

Now warding doesn't restrict itself to using runes. There are many wards that use normal incantations and wand movements to set up, and usually use a wizards own power. It goes without saying that these end up being weaker than their rune counterparts, are not as permanent, and can't cover as much area. The exception to this is Hogwarts.

Hogwarts itself is so full of ambient magic that it is pretty much its own wardstone, but there are no physical stones. The students themselves recharge the castle inadvertently every year by simply using magic.

For a place the size of the Sirius's castle, and not as old as Hogwarts, an elaborate wardstone scheme is used. The castle uses 4 large matrix stones, and an even larger central prime stone. There are 16 spellstones along with the 16 powerstones that go with them. These are all about the size of a bowling ball- compared to the size that Harry was using for his room which are the size of small apples.

Harry and Daphne got to preparing the stones, non-magically of course. Best results are achieved when you keep all external magic outside the system, it wouldn't to do have hiccups from interference. This only makes a difference to the stone before the runes are drawn. After the runes are set then all you have to be worried about is direct damage to the stones. Destroying wardstones is the only way to permanently destroy them. Curse breaking involves either using brute force to drain the power of the powerstones, or the highly trained skill of maneuvering through the wards and creating your own loopholes through the system and creating countermeasures.

After the stones were prepared, they got to writing the simple runes. Usually the runes would be the most complicated part, but each stone in this system wouldn't need more than two. Still, it was best to be safe so they pulled out their rune textbooks and translation guides.

When Daphne pulled out her wand to charge the stone Harry made a suggestion. "I think we should change the color of your wand. It look's identical to Dumbledore's. That would draw a lot of suspicion."

"Yeah, you're right. Do you know a spell to do it?"

"Hmmm. I would try something simple at first. Here." He pointed his wand at Daphne's. "Viridis."

There was no change. "Guess you can't really tamper with the supposed Deathstick that easily." Daphne responded. "I'll see if I can do it. Viridis!"

Sure enough, the wand changed to a dark green color. "Maybe there is something to this after all?" Daphne said in response to the color change.

"Maybe. Let's charge these stones." Harry held his wand to the first stone. "Peninculus!"

He held his wand to the stone for about 5 minutes. At first nothing noticeable happened, but slowly the stone started to glow until at 5 minutes it was like a light bulb. It was pulsing and humming with magic.

Harry had to take a small break to let his magic recharge a bit. So Daphne took the next one.

"Peninculus!" She incanted as she held her wand to the stone. The stone quickly charged up until the light was overpowering. A strong humming sound could be heard, and the magic was almost tangible.

All of a sudden the stone burst apart in a loud explosion, sending waves of crystal and magic all over the room. Harry took the brunt of it and smashed into the wall as shards of crystal cut him open and imbedded themselves in his skin.

"Ah, cock." Was all Harry said before his world went dark.

a/n The Grindlewald scene was kind of awkward to write. I wanted to explain the hallows without reciting canon word for word. Trust me when I say that it was a very awkward experience for Daphne and Harry also. Grindlewald is a very imposing man and can cause that to happen... Almost the exact opposite of Dumbledore in the way he does it too. Anyways, it didn't come out as good as I wanted it so I will probably end up rewriting it when I get bored.

'Peninculus' translates roughly to sponge or absorb. Or at least that's what I'm telling you. Online translators are a fickle thing.

And feel free to ask questions in your reviews. I tend to reply to a lot of the ones that I feel are worth a reply.


	7. DISCOVERIES

DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter was created by JKR, I do not own the rights to any characters, nor do I pretend to.

* * *

Sirius was sitting in his room, looking at his own wardstones, when he heard a loud explosion and felt the whole castle shake.

"Leave it to Harry to blow up a stone! Ah shit." He carefully packed up his stones before running out. It wouldn't do to have his stones also blow up after all. He booked it down the hallway and saw some of Harry's friends already at the scene.

Viktor, Luna, and Hermione were all eating in the main hall when they heard a loud explosion.

They felt the whole building shake, so they all jumped out of their chairs and rushed towards the commotion. They were the first to the scene.

Daphne was picking herself off the ground from where she was tossed aside like a ragdoll as they walked in. Other than a few light bruises from where she fell, she was perfectly fine. A miracle considering the fact that the powerstone was only 2 feet away from her face. She looked to her wand in awe. Then she noticed Harry and ran over to him.

"The powerstone exploded from being overcharged." Daphne explained.

Viktor nodded his head. "I can't heal this. I don't know vat is wrong. I place him in stasis, okay?"

Daphne nodded her head and Viktor placed a stasis spell on him. "Let's get him to St. Mungo's. A private ward would be preferable of course."

Sirius just arrived and nodded his agreement, before levitating his godson towards the nearest floo. They quickly made their way into the hospital and Harry was sent straight into the emergency ward.

Two medi-witches started examining Harry very quickly. One of the diagnostic spells all of a sudden turned black. "Who put this Dark stasis sell on him?"

"It saved his life." Was all Viktor replied with.

"Maybe, but the real test is yet to come. The cuts and bruises are mostly superficial. His magical core is destabilized, and if it isn't fixed, it will explode. And then he will be dead, and probably the whole hospital will be also. We have to get to the blast ward. Raman, fetch healer Warman. Tell her it's a class 1 emergency." The witch quickly spouted off the orders and levitated Harry's stretcher in front.

They went down three levels and into the blast ward. It had very think walls, and they were very strong and magic resistant. About a minute after they arrived, a very old looking witch appeared through the door.

She walked in without saying anything, and a few quick diagnostic spells of her own. She frowned before starting to explain. "His magical core is destabilizing and splintering, due to a large backlash of magic. I will have to use an ancient spell to fix it. It may or may not work, depending on the magical strength of caster and victim. Give me some room please."

The ancient witch moved her wand in a complicated manner, and a bright golden beam shot out of her wand at Harry. It didn't strike Harry though; it seemed to dissipate into a cloud around him. She shook her ahead before giving it another go.

"Lectus funiculus silicis monachus maximas!" The old witch yelled.

Luna watched with wide eyes as the spell wrapped around Harry for a brief second, before failing again.

"That was the best I could do, but it failed. His magical core is too strong, I can't do it. We only have minutes before it explodes, and we would need someone like Dumbledore to cast it." The witch gave a sad look. She was going to usher them out of the room and call for a lock down.

Daphne took one look at her wand and hoped for the best. She gave it a few practice twirls until she was satisfied she had it right. "Lectus funiculus silicis monachus maximas!"

Everyone in the room turned around in surprise at Daphne, but then turned quickly back to Harry as the spell wrapped around him and absorbed into his skin.

The healer looked surprised as was going through her diagnostics. "I don't believe it… a miracle for sure. He's healed. He's even better than healed. His vitals are all exactly where they should be. It's as if the accident never even took place! Usually the patient is hospitalized for weeks to recover after such an accident, but I believe he is perfectly fine. I don't believe it." The crazy lady was stuttering to herself. Everyone else was looking at Daphne in awe.

Daphne blushed with faint embarrassment but asked a question to divert the looks. "Uh, Healer Warman? What would happen if someone were to use that spell on someone whose magical core was intact?"

"What a dreadful question!" The healer snapped out of her trancelike state. "That spell is ancient magic. If misused it would most likely shatter their core, or tear it completely out. You would be a muggle at best, or a puddle of goo at worst. You're lucky it worked perfectly for you!"

Daphne nodded her head in agreement. She had a feeling that it was her wand that did most of the work anyways and nothing on her part.

No one noticed the change in Luna's demeanor when the old healer was screeching, as Harry took that time to wake up.

"Bugger it all, what happened?" Harry asked tiredly.

"You ate the explosion of an overcharged powerstone." Daphne replied with an apologetic smile.

Recognition flickered in his eyes. "I guess we were lucky that powerstone wasn't any bigger, otherwise I would be pushing up daisies right now." Harry gave a weak laugh.

"You are lucky to even be alive right now mister! Your magical core was destabilized and self destructing. Your girlfriend managed to save you."

"Well in that case." Harry grabbed Daphne's hand and pulled her into a long kiss. "How long was I out?"

"It's only been about 30 minutes."

"Oh. Am I good to go?" He was thanking Merlin that he wasn't in one of his weeklong hospital comas.

She gave one last diagnostic charm before nodding her head.

"Awesome."

* * *

They made their way back to the castle. Harry looked at the damage to the room. "Damn Daphne, that wand is truly something."

"Yeah it is. It fixed you right up when the master healer couldn't muster enough power for the spell."

"I guess it is only fair that you fix the room up. I'll see if I can salvage the wardstones."

Harry salvaged the other 3 pairs of wardstones and they set them up in the room. It only took a few waves of Daphne's wand and a few of the castle repairing charms that they used in the Chamber of Secrets before everything was like new.

"If we ever need to add new wards to the Castle, you're charging them suckers up."

A few days later, Voldemort was not in a very happy mood.

He was currently back in Britain, after destroying Gregorovich's shop and stealing his wands. He, like many before him, was searching for the Wand of Destiny. While the wandmaker didn't say anything useful other than the fact the wand was stolen before Voldemort was born, he did gleam some potentially useful information from the man's mind; the location's of his competitor wandmaker's shops. His biggest competitor was not Ollivander, like Voldemort would of thought, but rather a wandmaker down in Knockturn Alley. Little did either man know that that wandmaker and the thief were the same person, and that that person was Lord Grindlewald.

That is how Voldemort got to be standing outside of that particular wandshop. He was looking through the window.

He couldn't believe his luck.

He could see the fabled wand laying right there through the window on a golden pillow, atop a golden pedestal.

Voldemort barely held back the urge to barge right into the closed shop and take it. The greed in his eyes could have sent a shiver down an inferi's spine.

He took out his wand and started scanning the place for wards and traps and was surprised at what he found.

"Holy Fuck."

Voldemort was not one to use such primitive muggle terms, but he was at a loss for words. There were dozens, if not hundreds of wards and magical traps on the place, nearly all of them dark and dangerous. There were more than even he had on anything he ever warded. He was loathe to admit that there were even some he didn't recognize, but to Voldemort's excuse it was hard to tell them apart with so much magic all in one place.

Always up for the challenge, Voldemort began work on the immense network of spells.

At the same time Voldemort was tearing down the wards on Grindlewald's shop, Harry Potter was busy on his first mission from DMLE Director Amelia Bones.

He arrived on broomstick, as he was very unfamiliar with the area. It also had the added benefit of being able to scope out the area from the sky.

The town was very quiet, and there wasn't much else near the old rusty warehouse. After disillusioning himself, he made his way towards a side door.

He wisely put up a silencing spell around the door as it would have creaked very loudly. He only opened it about half a foot before shifting into his ashwinder animagus form and slithering in.

He still wasn't very used to his animagus forms, they were disorienting to say the least. As he let the surroundings sink in for a little bit, he noticed that the warehouse was pretty much empty, except in the far right corner. There was a bright blue aura indicating magic of some sort. He didn't notice any human sized body temperatures, just mice and such.

He slithered to the corner and shifted out of his form. He looked on in faint amusement as he realized whatever it was was disillusioned.

"Finite Incantatem!" The invisibility charm slowly dissolved away. He shifted back into his snake to see if there were any other wards or traps, and to his surprise there was none.

He shifted back out and opened up the first wooden crate. There was nothing interesting in it.

The story was the same for the second and third crate. It was what was in the fourth crate that would make his mouth hang open in shock.

There was a scroll case with a note attached. The note was coded so he couldn't get too much from it. It was what was inside the case that got him worried. There were diagrams. At least a dozen. As he leafed through the first few he noticed that looked like tombs or crypts. 'Voldemort is looking for something' was Harry's first thought.

He then came across a diagram of a large manor. He didn't recognize the blueprints, or the picture that was attached. There was also a diagram of the outside wards. He felt sorry for whoever this was that was being targeted.

And then he looked at the next page. It was a picture of a castle he would recognize instantly.

Because he lives there.

It was a picture of Sirius's castle.

There were only blueprints of the outside, and only a diagram of the outside few wards. Whoever scouted the place obviously did it by broom. All because the place is unplottable didn't mean you couldn't see the place with your eyes. The only thing that would make the castle invisible like that was the Fidelius, and all the magic in the world couldn't cast that charm on a place the size of the castle.

The next diagram was of Hogwarts. It wasn't as accurate as his marauders map, but it was still disconcerting. Especially since it had all the wards listed. He sighed as he rolled all the diagrams back up and placed them back into the case. He figured that this fell under the category of 'stuff that Amelia Bones would want to see'.

He exited the warehouse, but not before turning back into his snake form and setting the whole place on fire. Whatever else was in the boxes was going to be nothing but a pile of ashes.

He activated the portkey in his pocket.

Back at the manor, Daphne was nervous. So nervous in fact, her best friend Tracey took it upon herself to calm her down.

"Calm down, will you Daph? You're making me nervous just watching you." Tracey said.

It was true. Daphne was a nervous wreck. "I can't help but wonder if something's happened to him!" she screeched.

"You read the note. It is nothing but a reconnaissance and sabotage mission. Even if he did run to trouble, nothing but the Dark Lord himself would possibly stand a chance against Harry. They wouldn't send Harry off on a dangerous mission for his first go around."

"I suppose…" she was still unconvinced.

"You really love him don't you?" Tracey asked.

The question caught her off guard. "Yeah, I suppose I do. He means everything to me. "

"It's as I thought then." Tracey responded with a smirk.

"What's that?"

"You have it bad for Harry, and you want him to be yours- forever."

She opened her mouth for any angry retort, but cut it back."I just can't believe this is actually happening."

"Me too. Most of us thought you were just going to grow up to be a cold bitch who did nothing but absorb herself in her studies, get force-married to a 90 year old rich guy, kill him, and live off the rest of your life with that guys fortune by yourself."

"Hey-"

"I'm kidding. I'm glad you found someone you love."

"Me too. It's really surreal at times."

"Want to go down to the kitchens for some hot chocolate? It will make you feel better."

"Sure. The elves better have some Firewhiskey down there too." She mumbled the second art to herself.

"What was that?"

"Just a sneeze."

* * *

Voldemort was actually sweating. He couldn't believe it. He didn't even know he could sweat anymore, what with all the various dark rituals he has done over the years.

"Whoever put these wards up must have had a little bit of skill. " Voldemort understated, but that was as close as a compliment he would ever give. "It's a shame that I'm going to have to kill him, otherwise I'd ask him to join me."

He was nearly done dismantling the wards and traps. It took him most of the night, but he eventually did it. As he was nearing the end, his thoughts drifted to the information that he would be collecting after he was done here. Various diagrams of places powerful artifacts were once thought to be located. Others were of diagrams of potential targets, namely Hogwarts and Harry Potter, along with allies of Dumbledore.

Voldemort was loathe to admit, but Dumbledore had some powerful allies. Alastor Moody was easily the equal of any his inner circle members. The professors Flitwick and McGonagall were no slouches either. And he won't ever forget Dumbledore's mentor. He had plans for Dumbledore's mentor, but supposedly he died a few years ago. Still, it never hurts to double check and that's why he had to get the layout of his manor.

A new ally of his offered the information to him in an act of good will. It was a very strange fellow, but who was he to deny information like that?

Back in the wandshop, Voldemort slowly entered the door and took a look around. He didn't take notice of the light layer of dust on the ground, nor the faint smell of sulfur. There were many wands on display, but none of them seemed overly special. All except for the one on that golden pillow.

"That is it!" He let out an undignified whoop of triumph. He took out his wand and gave a few last inspections of the room around, seeing if he missed anything. He gave a small nod in satisfaction. "The Wand of Destiny is mine!"

He grabbed the wand and pulled it off the cushion.

And then his world exploded around him.

Being the arrogant prick he was, he didn't check for non-magical traps. A simple thin string was attached to the wand. The string was connected to flintlock spark triggers that were connected to a dozen kegs of gunpowder and an erumpent horn. There was nothing overly muggle about it, being that gunpowder has existed since the time of the founders.

"Oh cock!" was the only thing Voldemort managed to say as the explosion consumed him.

a/n- I still got about 3 or so scenes planned out before the start of the semester begins.


	8. ANSWERS OR JUST MORE QUESTIONS?

DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter was created by JKR, I do not own the rights to any characters, nor do I pretend to.

* * *

Harry's portkey took him straight into Amelia' Bones office. It was past midnight, but it seems like she has been working later and later nights as the weeks drag on.

Amelia was expecting him, so she wasn't surprised when he showed up. "Report?"

"There were no signs of anyone there. There were 4 boxes, three of which contained miscellany and the 4th contain these." Harry pulled out the case filled with the diagrams, and the note.

She leafed through the diagrams for a few minutes. "These are disconcerting to say the least. Various lost tombs and crypts. I know the Department of Mysteries looks into those kinds of things so I bet a few of these are already empty. These building diagrams, I recognize most of them. Your estate is here, as is the Flamel estate. Naturally Hogwarts is too. I'm surprised I don't see the Ministry, but there are enough disguised Death Eater's walking around I suppose they don't need it."

"The Flamel's? Dumbledore told me they will die since they don't have the philosopher's stone to make more of the Elixir of Life?"

"Oh yes, they will die, eventually. However they have more than enough elixir to last probably another 100 years. I'm sure they could make another stone in that amount of time."

"How do you know this, if I may ask?"

"Who do you think my contact is in the D.O.M. to get you your badge? One does not live to be over 600 and not be involved in that place. That is all I can say." She picked up the note and began reading it. She took out a piece of parchment and had the note decoded in less than 5 minutes. "The note doesn't say much, just written to the Dark Lord, and from some guy named Lieutenant Maximcdermous. The main body of the letter is just frivolities and an offer of the located goods. There doesn't seem to be any hidden messages or inert magic."

While she was examining all the papers, there was a bright flash of light.

A magnificent blue and white phoenix appeared in the room holding a note. After Amelia and Harry both picked themselves off the ground from shock, Harry asked. "For me?"

The phoenix nodded its head and Harry took the note.

_Kid_

_The Dark Lord broke into my shop last night and took the bait. I set up a trap involving one of the duplicate wands and when he picked it up the shop exploded on top of him. I'm sure he's still alive, but it's going to take him some time to re-grow his limbs. Luckily I packed up all the important crafting supplies and left the shop a week ago when I heard that Gregorovich was killed. I'm currently safe living in my former prison- I redecorated of course. My phoenix' name is Radegast, I've allowed her to answer your call if you need to send a letter to me._

_-GG_

"It's from an ally. Apparently the Dark Lord is incapacitated after an attack a few hours ago. He mentioned something about the Dark Lord having to re-grow limbs. Do you mind if I make copies of these plans and the note?"

"Sure. Do you need a portkey back?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks for completing this task. You did good work, these documents could be very important."

Harry wrote a quick note back to Grindlewald

_GG_

_I would like to meet with you in person. I have discovered some very disconcerting diagrams and would like your expert opinion. If it is okay with you, I will invite you to the castle and key you into the wards. Maybe you could add a few of your own?_

_-HP_

Harry said farewell and took the offered portkey.

Within seconds of Harry appearing, Daphne was already on top of him.

"I was so worried! You have no idea!" she screeched most unlady like.

"I think I do now." Harry grumbled. "It was perfectly safe"

"Did you find anything interesting?" she asked.

"You bet. Diagrams and schematics of a dozen locations, including here. We are going to have to put up more wards. First though, we need to meet with Gellert, see if he has anything to add to what Amelia told me. He sent a letter to me saying that he blew Voldemort up at his shop." He handed the letter over to Daphne.

"I'm coming with you." She said this with a look that said 'and you better not stop me.'

"Fine." Seemingly on cue, Radegast the phoenix appeared before them with a note.

_HP_

_Here's a portkey, use it when you want to talk with me._

_-GG_

"Convient." They both grabbed onto the small disk that provided. "Activate!"

They both arrived in a heap on the stone ground. They both looked around in awe. They appeared to be in a veritable stone fortress.

Grindlewald was walking towards them with hands outstretched. "Welcome to my humble abode, Nuremguard."

"Nice place. "

"More secure than Gringotts and Hogwarts put together." He said with a smirk. "Come now, we will go to the war room and have a look at your diagrams."

Grindlewald turned around with a flair of his robe and made off inside at a brisk pace. Daphne and Harry nearly had to jog to keep up with the old man.

The old man was explaining some of the design work of the castle as he walked, and seemed to ignore the fact that he was walking faster than they could jog.

After about 15 minutes of twisting turns they arrived in a very large room, with a large oval table.

"Very well, let me see what you got."

Harry handed him the note and bundle of diagrams.

"I don't know who this lieutenant fellow is. Probably a third party, and not a follower. This note doesn't give away too much. The only thing that worries me is that lieutenant's report to someone higher up. That means there is another potential Voldemort out there who rules more like a dictator than a tyrant. Let's see those diagrams."

Grindlewald spread out the diagrams on the table while Harry shivered at the thought of another Dark Lord working with Voldemort. Thankfully it looked like Grindlewald was serious about being allied with Harry and his friends.

"Fascinating. I know of all these catacombs."

"How?"

"Because I've already explored them all. Most of them were empty but a few had artifacts. This was during the 40's so these diagrams are vastly outdated. These property and building diagrams… Hmm… Your residence is here too…" Grindlewald went over to the largest of the papers, the one that was of Hogwarts. "Ah, I see a weakness here already. The underground cavern that is connected to the lake. Some of the wards don't overlap properly and are slightly out of sync."

"You think we should tell Dumbledore?"

"It's your choice. I don't know if Voldemort is skilled enough to notice this slight weakness."

"What about the other places?"

"Well the Flamel's manor is very thorough and has a lot of ancient wards. However they lack a lot of newer developments. Hard to tell if that is a positive or a negative. Your castle has solid wards, but I see places where I can improve if you so wish. You have adequate detection wards, but not enough subdual wards."

"We would all be most grateful for any help you can give."

"Very well. I'll gather up my supplies and be over tomorrow at noon. That gives you time to prepare."

"Oh, we almost forgot. What did you do to Voldemort?" Daphne asked.

"Ah yes, how could I forget?" Grindlewald smirked. "I packed up all my crafting supplies and brought them here. I closed the shop and left only cheap wands like the kinds you would get from Ollivander. I set up a trap involving one of the duplicate Elder Wand's, figuring that Voldemort would be searching high and low for the real one. I charged up the wartime warding system on the store and laid a trap for him."

"Did he get through?"

"He did. The wards were not meant to be impenetrable. In fact, those wards were half a century old, I just repowered them. After all, I wanted him inside to get at the wand. I set the wand up with a piece of line and hooked it up to a triggering device. The triggering device exploded a dozen barrels of black powder and an erumpent horn."

"Wow. Do you think he's alive?" Daphne asked.

"Probably. Half the alley was leveled, but there was no sign of Voldemort. The smell of charred flesh was in abundance however, so he must be in a world of shit."

"Do you think you could add some defensive traps to the castle also?"

"I'll see what I can do. Why don't you kids go and get some rest?" Grindlewald gave back the papers and led them up to the surface. It was noticeable lighter out, nearly dawn.

Voldemort has had better days. Even the day where his killing curse got reflected back to him by Harry Fucking Potter was a better day.

Voldemort thought he was superior to pain. He thought wrong. You can't help but to notice your limbs are being incinerated off into stumps and the flesh melting off your muscle and bone.

Of course he wouldn't die from such trivial things as mortal wounds. It was for occasions such as this one that caused him to create horcruxes.

Voldemort felt pain like he has never felt before. But if he was honest to himself, he wasn't all that used to pain. He is usually the one giving pain, and never receiving. Sure, his Dark rituals hurt sometimes, sometimes a lot, and some of those rituals were used to increase his pain threshold. He never actually thought he could feel pain after all the rituals that he has undertaken.

Regardless, He would have rather been forcefully ejected from his body after being hit with a killing curse than having to feel his limbs melting off.

The pain was so intense that Voldemort was knocked unconscious. When he did finally wake up a few hours after the explosion, he was pissed. Voldemort's very potent inner magic managed to heal some of his basic functions, but he was still missing his limbs.

Voldemort looked down to where his hand once was. He then saw the ashes of the wand he has spent all his time looking for. Voldemort went into a frenzy at the sight. He could barely even comprehend that the wand was destroyed.

"GRGgggggghhhhhh!" Voldemort screamed as foam flowed out his former mouth.

Voldemort took a few deep breathes and finally came to his senses. He couldn't activate is emergency portkey so he apparated back to his headquarters. He was in no condition to apparate and as a result he splinched off his one remaining butt cheek.

* * *

"Hey Daphne, before we go back to the castle you want to head to the Chamber of Secrets library?" Harry asked. "I want to see if there is anything on Holy magic in there. There's bound to be something, but I don't remember seeing a single thing in all the other times I've looked through the books. Some new wards would be nice too, especially since our enemy had a map of some of our wards."

"Good idea. From what I gathered from Viktor's, well, rather tough to understand lesson, Holy magic may just be a recent name for the magic. It is possible that the founders didn't even know about it, or they called it something else. I have a feeling we will find something but not in the form we expect it."

"True enough. Grab my arm and I'll take us to the chamber." Daphne did so and they promptly whisked away to the Chamber forest entrance. They quickly made their way down through the long passage and a few passwords later, they were browsing the shelves.

Harry had to go into the potions supply and dig out an energy replenisher. Neither of them had yet to sleep, but with their possible friends and families lives at stake, they would sacrifice some sleep for their safety.

About an hour of searching later Harry heard his name being yelled out.

"Hey Harry, nothing on the Holy magic yet, but I did find a very useful book on warding spells I have not seen before. Some of these could be very useful. There is some nasty ones in there, the most tame probably being a magic suppressing ward and its counterpart; the magic stealing ward. The magic stealing ward looks like it draws magic from the people inside the ward zone and uses it to recharge itself. Not to mention the people who are being drawn from will feel like shit after a time. The suppressing one is very useful too; if you set it right it looks like you can have the wards prevent all spells of a certain power threshold from being used. It looks like it can stop unforgivables amongst other things from being able to be cast at all."

Harry was listening with rapt attention. "That could be very useful for localized areas. I don't think we would want to suppress the whole castle, unless in an emergency. But if we place those wards over the apparition zone, any attackers will be pretty much fucked. They use suppressing wards like that in Azkaban don't they?"

"A different version of the wards probably. I think they are form of spellweave, where they are constructed right into the magic of the prison wall. Azkaban has been around for thousands of years, though not always as a prison. A runic version of that ward should be very useful."

"Anything else useful in that book?"

"Loads, although a lot of it is pretty specific. Various attack and defense wards that I'm sure Sirius would love to have. Some of these wards still exist today, but slightly altered. I think we can have multiples of the same wards…"

"Would their effects be multiplicative or additive?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. We would have to ask an expert." Daphne replied.

"Great. Let's look a little longer for this Holy magic stuff, and then we can head back."

It was two hours before either of them found anything. But found something they did, not much, but it was a start.

"Listen to this Harry." Daphne said, looking over a book. "_The most ancient of magicks, some say that it is the very magick of magick itself."_

"That makes no sense." Harry responded.

"This was written a very long time ago, meanings change. There is more." Daphne continued where she left off. "_The magick that transcends us and ignores us, for it is that magick that simply is. Magick so powerful that you can turn the most powerful magic user into nothing but a common mundane peasant. Magick so powerful that you can rip ones own magick self into a fireball of uncontrolled energy. Imagine ripping the magick out of another and combining it with your own? This magick follows no conventional rules. This magick is the magick of magick manipulation."_

"That's a mouthful."

"It gets better. _The name of this magick is Sacred to us, for it was once called Hallow Magick. The secrets of this magick are the most guarded in history. I am from the sect that guards this magic, and if anyone were to discover that I have even written this small piece on it, I will be put to death."_

"Wow. Sacred magic… and Hallowed magic?" Harry asked confusedly.

"Do you see? Everything is starting to make sense. We've just encountered Holy magic twice!"

"Really?" Harry asked astonished.

"That spell the Healer used on you- it repaired your magical core. If my interpretation on this paragraph is correct, Holy magic, or Hallowed magic, is magic that affects a person's magical core. The healer said it was ancient magic. This incantation and wand movement was very complicated, but I somehow got it on my first try."

"You told me it felt like your wand did most of the work with that spell. Do you think it is because it was Hallowed spell, and the Elder wand is one of the Deathly Hallows?"

Daphne's jaw dropped. "The naming is too much of a coincidence. That must be why the Elder Wand is so much more powerful than anything else, because the magic that made it is Hallowed magic which is inherently more powerful than any other magic."

"Well, Holy magic is supposedly the opposite of true dark magic. Do you think there is an opposite of the Elder Wand?"

"Oh Merlin! Who knows, but if Voldemort is after the Elder Wand…well let's just hope that no opposite wand exists."

They both shivered at the thought. Both had a contemplative look on their face as they tried to absorb the new info.

"What was the second instance of Holy magic that you were talking about?" Harry asked.

"Oh. We just discovered that ward book. The magic suppressing and stealing wards seem like they might be Holy magic. If they directly affect a person's magical core…"

"It's a possibility." Harry agreed. "Maybe Viktor's mother can finish the mystery."

"Maybe. At least we got some answers. And not to mention we discovered a previously unknown link between the Deathly Hallows and Holy magic."

"True. I wonder if Grindlewald knows anything about anti-Hallows?"

"That man knows a lot, who knows? Let's head out of here, I'm knackered."

"Me too."

* * *

The next day saw Grindlewald arriving at the Castle to help reinforce the place. Harry keyed him into the Floo, and a few minutes later the old man walked through.

"Nice place you got here kid. Lead me to the ward chamber." Grindlewald said before he was even introduced.

"Er, Everyone this is Gellert. He's here to help with the defense of our home." Harry managed to stammer out before he was chasing after Grindlewald once again. The man could walk like none other.

Daphne and Sirius had to run to catch up with Harry and Grindlewald. Harry led the former Dark Overlord down several set of stairs until they were below the dungeons. They stopped in front of a heavy iron door.

"This is the central wardstone chamber." Harry supplied. Grindlewald nodded while Sirius tried to catch his breath before opening the door up.

Inside was a somewhat plain room. There were several pedestals with large crystals perched on top, and a humongous one in the center, with an even larger sphere. The air was thick with oppressive radiant magic, and the humming sound seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere all at once.

"Impressive." Grindlewald stated before he walked over to each crystal and started to inspect them meticulously.

Harry Daphne and Sirius watched Grindlewald work with amused curiosity. The man has obviously seen his far share of warding schemes and knows his way around like none other.

Grindlewald was in his own little world. He had out his runescribe knife and was 'correcting the mistakes' in the wards. Really, there were no mistakes with the wards. But that didn't mean they couldn't be improved. Why settle for 100% when you can get 110%?

Occasionally Grindlewald would absently explain something out loud, but never waited for any responses. The other three followed him around, but did their best not to get in his way.

After about three hours Grindlewald finally stopped his meticulous work.

"I have streamlined and modulated all the current wards. Nothing will be able to get past them. However, since I modulated them, it is now very easy to add new wards to the system. I have a few in mind, the least being inferi disintegrating wards.

Harry nodded mutely while waking Sirius and Daphne up. The thick ambient magic was enough to make you fall asleep if you were idle for too long.

"Show Grindlewald that ward book we found. Maybe he can incorporate some of them." Harry asked Daphne.

"Sure." Daphne reached into her pocket and enlarged the shrunken ancient book.

"Oho what do we have here?!" Grindlewald exclaimed, his interested peaked.

Grindlewald took the book out of Daphne hands reverently, almost like how one would handle a newborn child. Grindlewald opened up to the first page and a smile slowly came across his face as he started reading.

"This book is amazing, there wards in here that haven't been seen in thousands of years!"

"The ones that interested us most were the magic draining and suppressing wards."

Grindlewald turned the book to the specified page and gleamed over the spell, and gave a barking laugh. "Vicious, very vicious. I like it. It shouldn't be a problem to configure it in to the setup. I'll add a few of the other ones in as well. These runes are very old, but nothing I am not familiar with."

Grindlewald went to work again. He was working fast, but there was a noticeable spring in his step. It was almost as if he enjoyed knowing that the new wards could drain someone to a husk. In fact, he probably did.

It was another two hours later that Grindlewald said he was done. The man worked faster than any warder that Sirius has ever seen.

"All the runes are scribed. They just need to be charged at the emitter stones. Harry and Daphne, you go take care of that. Sirius and I will go configure some active defense traps."

Grindlewald took off up the stairs with Sirius in tow. Harry took out a schematic of where all the emitter stones were located. There were quite a few and he didn't have them all memorized.

Harry led Daphne outside into one of the many gardens that surround the castle. It was no coincidence that the gardens were all growing on top of the wardstone sites. The ambient magic from stones caused plants to flourish.

Oddly enough, it was also the reason that one Luna Lovegood was humming to herself while dancing around one such garden.

Harry and Daphne walked upon the strange, but not unexpected, scene.

"Uh, hi Luna." Harry greeted lamely.

"Hello Harry Potter and Daphne Greengrass." Luna responded serenely. She was now dancing around one the birdbath statuettes.

"You like it out here?" Harry asked curiously.

"It's nice. I feel all tingly when I sit out here."

"That would be the magic coming off the wardstone. If you like this garden, you should see the garden above the main ward chamber. I can show you it after we are done if you want." Harry offered.

"That would be kind Harry Potter." Luna replied. She turned her focus to two figures flying on brooms of in the distance.

Harry noticed her attention shift, and he turned his head to look. "Who are they?"

"That would be Draco Malfoy and Astoria Greengrass. They've been doing that together for a few weeks. I think they are both lonely."

Daphne looked somewhat alarmed. "Should I be worried that Malfoy has been hanging around with my sister?"

"Astoria can handle herself I think. Malfoy has mellowed out since his father died. He is under the protection of the House of Black so there could be serious ramifications for the Malfoy line should he do anything regrettable." Harry said reasonably.

"You're right of course. But if I catch Malfoy stepping a single toe out of line…" Daphne made a cutting motion across her throat. "On the other hand, Malfoy has connections to the other Death Eater progeny, maybe he will confide with Astoria and give us some information."

"It's a possibility. I think Malfoy is just unused to the change in his life and he is lonely. I'm not going to lose any sleep at night over Malfoy."

Daphne nodded. "Let's do what we came here to do."

Harry shifted the birdbath out of the way. He went down into the hole and retrieved the crystal. Normally, one wouldn't have to recharge a wardstone so soon. But since Grindlewald reconfigured and added a lot to the wards, it would be wise to reconfigure the whole system in line with the changes.

"Try not to blow one up this time." Harry said with a smirk.

Daphne had the decency to blush. She took out the Elder wand and carefully charged the stones up. She managed it properly this time around and didn't blow one up in Harry's face.

The sealed the stone up when they were done and dragged Luna off the next garden and repeated the process. They ended up charging a dozen or so of the crystals when they finally finished at nighttime. It was a very exhausting day and they barely had enough energy to key Grindlewald into the castles wards before they trekked up to Harry's room and fell asleep.

Authors notes: Sorry for the delay with posting this chapter. I've been busy (mass effect 2) plus I ended up rewriting this chapter 3 times, and I still don't like how it came out. I couldn't get the Grindlewald scenes to where I like them. I'm not really one for perfection, but I will revisit this chapter to rework some of it eventually.

Another note about the story. I am trying to show that Harry and Daphne are not gods incarnate or anything like that. The Grindlewald ward scene is to show that Harry and Daphne don't really know _that _much about wards, certainly not on the level of professional warders, and definitely not on someone like Grindlewalds level. And if you are asking 'just exactly how strong is Grindlewald magicwise?' Well, you will just have to wait and see. Action next chapter! We jump time a little bit to Harry's birthday.

When I think of charging crystals for the wards, I think of the powerstones from the MtG universe, more specifically The Thran novel.

Oh, and another reason why this chapter was slow (nearly 2 weeks for 4k words, not nearly long enough). I've been working on my other stories. My vamp!harry story is coming nicely, although I don't have as extensive of an outline as I do for my other stories. I know what I'm doing for the next chapter, but beyond that, not really. I have started working on the HP/RR story again. It is not abandoned, its just hard to have a bunch of stories at once. I have 5 unposted fics that are around 20k words in length, but I don't think it is fair to the readers to have so many WIP.

For those who are curious to what I haven't posted but am in the process of writing;

HP/Romilda Vane short fic. Premise is opposite canon, Romilda finds out that Ginny is trying to love potion Harry…

HP/DG one shot. I love the DG character too much… I pretty much picture Daphne as the future Lucy Pinder or Gemma Atkinson, I can't help it. This short fic will be a hidden relationship fic, instead an open relationship fic. Sort of.

Azkaban!harry. Harry is guilty for killing Umbridge and is sentenced to 30 years. How changed will Harry be when he completes his time. Sorta gained!powers fic.

Harry Potter (On the wings of a Phoenix) rewrite. I liked the premise and plotline of this story, but not the Harry character. So I am rewriting it to not be pussy!harry. I asked the author for permission to use some elements, but the guy hasn't responded and it's been 6 months. I have quite a bit written for this, and I have started it back up, so if any of these stories get posted soon it will be this one.

AU!harry fic. Pretty much nothing canon about Harry in this story. Harry is known as Polaris Black, ever since Sirius left him in Walburga's care. Polaris is in Ravenclaw and has a pet baby nundu( it's so cute!) Harry has some specials powers, but I'm not sure how far to take it (telekinesis) this will also be a future rare paring. There's quite a few Ravenclaw girls that Polaris can end up with a few years down the line, but I will probably make it MoragMacDougal/HP, but Morag is pretty much a blank slate to do what I want with. Other options would be Su Li, Lisa Turpin, Luna, or Slytherin girl.


	9. Chapter 9

DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter was created by JKR, I do not own the rights to any characters, nor do I pretend to.

Warning- Brief scenes of a sexual nature…

* * *

Harry awoke to the greatest thing he has ever witnessed. Daphne was trying to communicate with the one snake that doesn't require parseltongue. It was an odd technique that involved the use a both hands and a lot of spit. And then it looked like she ate the long snake by shoving it completely down her throat.

Harry, naturally, didn't have the mental capacity at the current moment to have these thoughts. First, it was morning, and second, his manhood was currently being sucked dry. He didn't know how long she was going at it, but it had the desired effect. Harry let loose one last groan of pleasure before he let loose the dams and released down her throat. Daphne swallowed it all without complaining.

"Happy birthday Harry!" she beamed while slowly massaging him once again.

"Wow. That. Was. Amazing! Can I wake up every morning like that?" Harry groaned out.

"I think than is not beyond the realm of possibility, provided you are a good boy." Daphne responded nonchalantly while examining her fingernails.

It was only then did he realize exactly what was happening. His girlfriend was playing with his giblets for the first time ever. Sure, they've fooled around, but they've never gone as far as that night where they got interrupted. Now here he was, waking up with his crotch down his girlfriend's neck. For a brief moment in time, life couldn't be better. Until you remember about a certain dark lord wreaking havoc across the land.

Daphne was very nervous at first. She, like Harry, was completely inexperienced at this sort of thing. She was willing to go all the way on that day when they got interrupted, but they just couldn't get to that build up again. She figured his 15th birthday was as good a day as any. She was already in the same bed as him, and was used to his 'mood swings' and being poked in the back with it while sleeping.

They were brought out of the afterglow of their activities with Harry's communication mirror vibrating on his desk.

"Bloody hell."

"At least we're finished…"

"Better answer it."

Harry went over to it and after making sure they were both decent he answered it. "Hello? Sirius what's wrong?"

"Harry! This is an emergency, Azkaban is under attack! We could use your help, the apparation wards are down. If you can-" the connection went blank.

"Damn." Harry took one look at Daphne and saw fire in her eyes. He changed his question before he even asked it. "Do you want to come?"

"Someone needs to watch your back." She replied.

"Let's gear up then. Harry grabbed his armaments and armor and got dressed very quickly. A few minutes later Daphne was also ready. They transfigured their robes into Auror Red.

"Grab my arm. I'll try to get us there." Harry took a calming breath. With a loud pop they were both gone.

* * *

They managed to arrive safely. They were in a large courtyard and it was silent. Very silent. There was no sign of any fighting, past or current.

Until a large explosion roared out in the distance.

"I guess we better go in that direction." Harry ran to the far side of the courtyard and made his way through the large wooden doors.

There was a long hallway with many doors coming off the sides. "Careful…" Harry cast a revealing spell looking for invisible people. There wasn't any.

They made their way through the next door and they arrived into a room that is a prison portcullis/checkpoint. The normally heavily locked door on the other side was ajar. They made their way silently through it.

They were now in the prison ward. Cells lined the walls, but the corridor was nearly pitch black. A minimal amount of light filtered in trough miniscule windows.

Harry and Daphne both lit their wands silently with 'lumos' at the same time. They noticed that all the cells in the part of the prison were empty, but the doors were all open. That meant that the prisoners must have been freed.

They carefully walked down the corridor, keeping an eye out for any stragglers or traps. There was nothing for about 5 minutes before they heard a group of people coming their way talking in low voices. They couldn't make out what they were saying.

They were too late in extinguishing their lights because of one of the guys yelled out. "Over there, there was wandlight!" The guy yelled out a call sign, but Harry didn't know the response. It was then he knew they are enemies.

"Take cover." Harry whispered to Daphne. Many spells started sailing overhead. A particular nasty looking curse hit the ceiling right above them.

"Ah shit!" Harry yelled as the ceiling came down. Harry pushed Daphne out of the way, just barely. But now they were on opposite sides of the collapsed ceiling. There was no way past, and Harry is on the side with the enemies. He wasn't even sure Daphne was safe, and he was now very angry.

A dark cutting curse bounced off his shoulder. Harry gave out one primal yell before transforming into his Nundu animagus form. He gave off a roar before charging down the corridor.

He didn't have time to count how many enemies there were, but there was at least 5. He bowled them right over as if they were tenpins. He quickly skid to a halt and turned around and charged back in. The men were getting back up and taking cover in the cells and closing the doors.

Harry managed to mangle one with his teeth and claws, but the others were now unreachable. He might have magical resistant skin, but he couldn't take abusive spells forever. He did the only thing he could.

He exhaled his poisonous breathe. In about a minute all the men trapped in the cells were dead or dying.

Harry wisely escaped the area before transforming back. He had a hunch that he would be immune to his own poisonous breath, but he didn't want to chance it at all in this situation. Back in his human form he leaned up against the wall.

"More men killed by my hands… When will it stop?" He took a minute to calm himself. "Rather them then me" He steadied his resolve and continued on. If Daphne was in real trouble her emergency portkey would trigger itself. There was no way he could clear a couple tons of magic resistant rubble quickly enough, so he made his way down the corridor and into the next room.

He saw spell fire flaring from outside. There was no direct way out there so he kept walking down the corridor.

He walked about 100 feet before he ran into someone else. Literally. They didn't hear each other and he ran right into the person. Harry pulled himself up and relit his wand. He saw it was that it was Kingsley Shacklebolt. He helped the Auror up.

"Sorry Kingsley, I saw spell fire outside so I was running there…"

"Don't worry about it kid. That was me out there. Follow me, I think I know where to go."

Harry followed Shacklebolt down the hallway he just came from. They took a sudden turn that Harry didn't notice the first time around.

All a sudden a door burst open right in front of them. Harry and Kingsley both jumped to the side and crouched into the same exact fighting position.

The person that was hurled through the door laid crumpled against the wall. It looked like an Auror. They waited to see if the attacker would come through the door.

Sure enough a Death Eater peeked around the corner real quick. Harry and Kingsley both waited in the shadows. They were going to let the first one pass by to see if there any followers.

The first Death Eater walked out and checked the vitals on the downed Auror. "Dead." The man called out to someone else.

The Death Eater continued walking down the hall. About 15 seconds later 2 more came through the door.

Kingsley gave Harry a nod. They both sprang into action.

Kingsley sent a bombardment spell between the two at the back of the group, knocking them about and sending debris into their faces.

Harry hit the guy in front with a stunner before he could even turn around.

Harry and Kingsley walked over to the only guy that wasn't unconscious.

Kingsley lifted him up. "Where are the rest of your forces hiding?"

The man just spit blood through his cracked mask at Kingsley. Kingsley punched him back in the face. "How many men are here? I won't ask twice."

"I think he's dead Shack." Harry said. He pointed at his chest.

Kingsley looked down and saw a long piece of stone sticking out of his chest. "Damn. There's nothing for it, let's continue on."

They walked through a few more rooms, all deserted. Many of the rooms had no discernable use that Harry could figure out. He did see something that curiously looked like a rack in one room, and an iron maiden in another. He shivered at the thought of these being interrogation rooms.

They were walking deeper into the complex for about 15 minutes when the meager lighting started to dim. It was also getting colder. A familiar cold.

"You feel that?" Harry asked.

"Yes." Shacklebolt responded. "Dementors. I hope you can cast a patronus…"

"I should be able to manage it."

They almost didn't see the wraithlike dementors until it was too late.

They drifted right in front of them with outstretched arms. The duo simultaneously chanted "Expecto Patronum!" Harry's familiar stag patronus surged out of his custom wand. Shacklebolt's took the form of a large predator cat.

Harry was happy he got his out on the first try; all he had to do was think of what Daphne did to him that morning. He had a feeling he could of did it wordlessly with that memory.

The two patroni scattered the half dozen dementors into the far recesses of the prison fortress. However when the two ethereal animals were about 50 feet away they were blasted out of existence by the arrival of two Death Eaters.

"I didn't know that was possible." Harry stated. Shack simply shrugged.

The two of them transfigured some loose rock into cover for the barrage of upcoming spells. These two wizards seemed to be somewhat skilled and precise with their aim.

"Take point Harry, ill cover you." Shacklebolt instructed.

Harry ran to the other side of the hall to cut down on the shooting angle between the two of them. Shacklebolt kept the defensive spell work up while Harry was going through his repertoire. Harry opened up with standard blasting curses which were deflected easily.

Harry had to duck as Shack failed to stop a stray curse. After he ducked he sprang up with a very quick arc-lightning that hit the first man right in the face, incapacitating him. Harry launched the same spell at the second man but the man replied quickly with a conjured metal rod that attracted the lightning.

Harry cursed under his breath at the innovation. He sent a large incendiary charm at the man who put up the appropriate countercharm. Harry, however, hid an explosive fireball inside the incendiary charm. The man didn't notice the difference and the fireball smacked him into the wall behind him, finishing the fight.

"Good work kid." Kingsley gave Harry a nod. "Let's go. There's bound to be more."

They were pretty deep in the prison fortress now. They could hear sounds of fighting from a few different directions in the deep cell block.

The two fighters took many turns, but the sound seemed to be the same distance away no matter how much they traveled. They eventually came across an odd ornate door. Luckily it made no noise as they opened it.

They arrived in a large room and came across two groups fighting each other. Harry recognized the bright red hair of a Weasley so he knew which group was which.

"You reckon large area, low collateral spells? Harry asked.

"Yeah, no explosions… On the count of three." Kingsley aimed his wand.

Harry nodded affirmative as Kingsley counted to three. He quickly decided which spell would be the most efficient here and less likely to hurt the wrong side. He went with an acid spray.

Harry made a semi-complicated wand twirl and brought his wand in a wide arc, but small enough to leave Dumbledore's fighters out of it. The acid washed down on them and coated the floor.

The Death Eater's repositioned themselves quickly. They diverted the direct acid pretty quickly, and set up a temporary shield. However it was for naught as Shacklebolt chanted 'flagrante' and lit them all on fire. Apparently the acid was very noxious and flammable.

The Death Eater's flailed about for a few seconds, but aguamenti charms could no put out the chemical fire. They slowly collapsed in a heap of burnt flesh and clothing.

Seeing that the threat was over with, for a few minutes at least, Dumbledore's Order members regrouped, healed, and went down another path. Shacklebolt conversed with Moody briefly, motioned to Harry, and then came back. It looked liked Shacklebolt and Harry would remain a team for a little bit longer.

"Moody says they came from the North entrance, and they just took the south exit. We came from the east…"

"So we go west." Harry finished. A nod later and they were walking off once again. They were thankful to be out of the room, burning bodies doesn't smell pleasant.

They were in pretty good condition physically; they have not had any prolonged battles yet, luckily getting surprise attacks in twice. Shacklebolt, however, did have a slight limp from a stray curse. He's been hurt worse though so he didn't mention it.

They walked for about 5 minutes before they came upon a heavy wooden door.

"I don't know what is in here. I have never been this far into the prison before. We don't even use all the floors." Kingsley said.

"I have a feeling this is where we should be going…" Harry said vaguely. It was just one of those feelings.

"Ok kid. Let's be careful." Kingsley slowly opened the ancient wooden door.

They walked into a very well lit room. The room was quite large and very ancient looking, almost as if it predated the rest of the fortress. In the center was an unopened tomb with many glittering gems embedded in it.

And standing over it, chanting in an unknown language, was the Dark Lord.

"Voldemort." Harry spat. "Grave robbing again, are we?" he goaded.

The Dark Lord stopped chanting and turned around, eyes ablaze. "Potter… I'm not even going to ask what you are doing all the way down here. And you brought a friend. Shacklebolt, is it?"

Kingsley swore to himself. "Harry, go all out and duck every lethal spell. I'll defend you as best as I can."

"So you choose to fight do you? So be it." With a flick of Voldemort's wrist his clothing became more suitable for fighting.

Harry took a loose stance while Kingsley was crouching low. Shacklebolt wasted no time preparing the defenses, and taking the hint Harry started firing mild direct curses.

Kingsley was transfiguring all the loose rocks into large slabs and having them float around for nearby use. He was busy conjuring animals now.

Harry was flinging pressure waves at Voldemort as there wasn't a good counter for them aside from a modified bubble head charm. He was hoping to off balance the far superior wizard.

Voldemort had a few of his own transfigure defense waiting for use, and he was flinging his own retaliatory hexes.

The Dark Lord threw 5 or 6 Killing curses just to unsettle the young wizard and experienced Auror. The Auror was laying it on thick with the stone defense though so none of them even got near. He slashed his wand and verbally killed the conjured bear that was charging him. He set the rest of the animals on fire with a single cone attack.

Harry saw Voldemort change his stance to combat the pressure wave attack and decided to try out some of his standard attacks. He tried his favorite lightning attack, but it was countered by Voldemort with ease. His explosive fireball met a similar fate. None of the spells he used on him at the graveyard were likely to work now. He needed new tricks.

He opted for a barrage of spells instead of just large single shots. He took out his second wand and became transfiguring and animating like Shack was. Harry was charming them to explode with different effects when killed though.

Voldemort was smiling to himself. He enjoyed a challenge. The two fighters worked pretty well together, but they were not good enough. However he underestimated the onslaught of kittens, bunnies, and puppies that Potter was throwing at him. He kicked a cat out of the way and it exploded right on him, paralyzing his leg.

It took him a second to register that he couldn't roll out of the way, and he took an ice lance right to the shoulder. It didn't penetrate, but it fractured the bone. With a snarl he dispelled all the nearby conjurations with a wave of his wand.

Seeing that he did nothing to Voldemort except make him angry, Harry and Kingsley both went on the offensive hoping to bring Voldemort out of his flurry of spells he was sending in retaliation. It looked like Voldemort faltered for a second with decided whether or not to change gears, but he decided with a well timed Cruciatus curse that ripped through the air and smacked into Shacklebolt.

The tall auror screamed with pain as he flew into the wall behind him. Voldemort didn't hold the spell for more than 5 seconds because he now had a pissed off Harry coming after him.

Harry launched a direct stone cleaving curse that left a large fissure in its wake. Voldemort wisely dodged the overpowered spell instead of blocking it. Voldemort then had to dodge a ball of lightning. Voldemort mentally filed that spell away as he had never seen it before.

Harry continued with his assault. He conjured a flaming sword while animating it and charming it unbreakable. He fired off a few trumped up stinging hexes which Voldemort met direct on with his own.

Voldemort upped the ante by throwing a skin flaying curse, followed by a bloodfire curse. There was a few other spells besides those two, but Harry couldn't recognize them. He didn't dwell too long on that fact though.

Harry rolled far away from those and sent a large gust of wind at the Dark Lord. He buffered it out of the way without trouble. Voldemort had to summon his own animated sword to distract Harry's.

Harry wasn't done with the wind though. He forced it into a tornado and gathered up a bunch of debris with it. Voldemort saw what was happening and cast a flash freeze which nullified the wind. Before the debris could hit the ground, Voldemort roared and banished the whole lot right at Harry.

Harry, seeing a bunch of rocks coming at him, peeled up a layer of the floor to take the brunt of the blow. However Voldemort timed a blasting curse and took the protection out. Harry did the only thing he could and teleported out of the way. The only sign of shock on Voldemort's face was he blinked his eyes twice. He upped the ante once again with various disembowelment hexes.

Harry was very tired at this point, he was panting heavily. He was focusing solely on dodging the fast piss-yellow curses.

Harry blinked once and saw the sickly reddish black Cruciatus come at him. He couldn't muster up the effort to dive out of the way.

The torture curse hit him in the shoulder and he collapsed the ground in pain. It felt like someone was using a vegetable peeler on his nerves.

"It can't end like this…" Harry mumbled to himself. 'He is a lot stronger than he was at the graveyard…' Those might have been his last thoughts. He knew he was a goner.

All seemed lost until an unearthly silence filled the room. Harry couldn't turn his head to see what was going on.

"You stop here now Tom." A familiar voice rang out.

"Your child-savior is done for Dumbledore." Voldemort snarled back. He lifted the curse though.

'Dumbledore to the rescue' Harry gave a mental cheer. Harry didn't hear anymore of the conversation, he was suffering from after-tremors of the extreme torture curse. The two experienced wizards started flinging spells.

Dumbledore seemed to have the upper hand for a few minutes, Voldemort was having trouble adapting to his new foes style, and he was worn down.

The two wizards used more obscure spells that Harry had a very tough time recognizing. The sort of spells that took more than two words to cast.

Dumbledore's style was similar to Shacklebolt's, except more refined. Dumbledore was a master conjurer and animator. Instead of giving the animals their own actions, he controlled them all like the puppet master he was.

Dumbledore also used some very potent offensive spells. Harry saw him use an acid spray and fire whip. Voldemort used acceptable counterattacks to deal with them.

The tide of the battle changed quickly when Dumbledore slipped on a piece of loose rock, and he was now on the defensive after having to put out his flaming beard.

Harry was starting to regain feeling in his limbs. He saw that the fight was nearly even once again, and then he spied Kingsley still lying unconscious next to the wall. Harry made his way slowly over to the downed Auror.

He tried muggle methods to wake him up first, but to no avail. He knew the enervate spell was dangerous to use on a person who wasn't hit by a stunner. Harry then remembered one of the spells Viktor Krum taught for this kind of situation. It was meant to wake someone up regardless of their condition, and could be considered dark. The person could wake up and immedietly die.

Harry just hoped Shacklebolt wasn't in too much pain.

He cast the spell, and to his relief Shacklebolt woke up and only came a small grunt of displeasure.

"Listen, Shack, Dumbledore is here fighting Voldemort. Reckon a sneak attack before it's too late?"

Kingsley watched the fight for a few seconds. Satisfied that neither of the fighter's noticed them recuperating in the corner they decided on a plan. He gave a nod.

"What spells do you reckon?" Harry asked.

"I'll overpower a ward hammer- it should act like a massive banisher. You send a bone smasher."

"Alright. On your count."

They moved around the outside perimeter, and prayed that neither of the two experienced sorcerers would notice. It wouldn't do for Dumbledore to give them away even with a simple glance.

They were about 25 feet away from Voldemort. Kingsley held up three fingers and counted down.

Harry chucked the most forceful bone breaker he could manage, while Kingsley's spell hit the Dark Lord right in the head.

Voldemort crashed into the wall behind and then got railed by Harry's bone breaker. It was a direct hit as Harry saw some gore fly off his ribcage. Kingsley collapsed to the ground, still very fatigued and now magically exhausted.

Harry barely managed to stay standing. Voldemort was slowly getting back up, bleeding profusely.

"Give up Tom." Dumbledore pleaded. He was pretty battered himself.

Voldemort just growled in response and coughed up blood. "Never!" He cast one last spell before activating an emergency portkey.

The cheerful looking sky blue spell hit Dumbledore right in the chest, but nothing happened at first.

"What is it Professor, are you alright."

"Perfectly peachy my dear boy." The old man wheezed. "Let's get out of here."

"What spell did you get hit with?" Harry asked.

"I am unsure as of this moment, but I don't feel like I am in any imminent danger. We have to get back to the surface and find the rest of the Order. Levitate Kingsley, I will guard us."

Harry did as he was told. "Sir, Voldemort was going for whatever is in that tomb." He pointed over toward to tomb. It was still in pristine condition despite the rest of the room looking like a warzone.

"Let's be thankful he did not get it then. I do not know what it is, but whatever it is it cannot be good for us. Unfortunately he still managed to free the majority of his followers from his first reign, including the likes of Augustus Rookwood, Antonin Dolohov, Rodolphus, Rebastian, and Bellatrix Lestrange."

"The Lestranges are responsible for Neville's parents…"

"Amongst other foul deeds." The headmaster replied.

It took about 20 minutes to reach the surface. Dumbledore seemed to know exactly where to go and what shortcuts to take.

They reached a courtyard that was filled with Aurors and Order members alike. Harry was momentarily surprised to see his girlfriend Daphne still here. She rushed over and jumped into his arms.

Harry couldn't hold her at all and they collapsed in a mass of limbs.

"Sorry." The both apologized at once.

"I couldn't clear the rocks so I went ahead… I figured you probably would have portkeyed out."

"I lost it in the scramble. It looks like you found some enemies, I only encountered an insane witch but I managed to scare her off. I think she was one of the prisoners."

"Maybe Bellatrix Lestrange?" Harry offered. "She's been in prison for 15 years, she can't be too healthy."

"She was still pretty quick with a wand, but she fatigued very quickly and vanished before I could finish her."

"I killed about a half dozen Death Eaters as my animagus form. I then came across Kingsley Shacklebolt and we partnered up and took down probably a dozen foes before we came across Voldemort himself, trying to break into a sealed tomb. He escaped, but none of us died. Dumbledore rescued us though; Shack and I both got hit with the Cruciatus."

"Wow. You do look shaky, let's get you a healer."

Harry nodded and walked Kingsley to the nearest healer.

Harry was surprised that he had no major damage. He just had to drink some nerve restoring potions to combat the Cruciatus and get some good food and rest. Daphne only had minor bruises from the collapsed ceiling. Rest sounded really good, Harry decided to get some sleep before hearing other people's stories.

He was slightly worried that he couldn't find Sirius.

* * *

A/N

Sorry for the long delay in updating. If you check my profile you can see I have a lot of stories I have been working on.

I had the next chapter of Harry Potter and the Root of all Evil written out, but my computer ate it. I really don't want to rewrite it, but I will eventually. it may be awhile. I do have a really great chapter coming out for it though, lots of travelling and adventure and shamanism.

I have yet to start on the next chapter of my vamp!harry/femblaise, but I did post a new one a few days ago. I only have a vague plot written out for it. I started this story for the same reason I wrote all my stories. I read a lot of stories on this site, ran out of good pairings, so I had to write my own.

I have been working on my Polaris Black series quite a bit, but still not to the point of posting it.

I also have started work on my HP/DG oneshot. It is written in first person and sort of plays out like journal entries... it's kind of awkward and will need some editing, as I think I am doing more telling than showing. There's over 10k words written for it already and a lot more planned. I think it would be classified as a gen fic, there is not too much adventure in it and a little romance.

* * *

I cut back on the first scene significantly. I don't want smut to be overbearing, and there was a lot of it in the original. There was also some talk about Daphne reminiscing about Harry's perfect timing into her life to ward off the Slytherin boys. I decided this chapter was not a good place for it, if there is any place. I may just scrap it altogether if the mood fancies me, as I don't think it belongs in this story with the direction I want to take it in. I think I originally wrote it to combat stereotypical icequeen!Daphne, but I think I accomplished that anyways…

I apologize if I mixed up my past and present tenses, I've said it before but it is one of my biggest flaws in my writing. Present tense seems like it would enhance the realism of the action, but for some reason it just doesn't seem right to me when I write it.

There is only going to be one or two more chapters before Harry is back at school. The next chapter is going to be about the aftermath of the Azkaban attack.


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